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The Van Psycho Period

November 19th, 2019

The Van Psycho Period

The Van Psycho Period (as I am now calling it) is a brief segment of my personal art history or "Style". The works I created during this time displayed intense psychedelic colors, in combination with distorted and exaggerated shapes. The shapes were accentuated with strong definitive brushstrokes in a linear contour, creating both texture and movement. Some suggested that these works were influenced by Van Gogh, but there is also an influence from the Expressionists as well as the primitive carvings of ancient Africa. Most of the subject matter painted during this time was shocking, frightening and deeply disturbing.

Mother and Child

November 19th, 2019

Mother and Child

Mother and Child. A painting from the African Period. It is a portrait of a starving African woman and her baby in a desolate setting. The woman and her child are ghost-like in their shades of cold blues against the roughly textured hot, dry, gold and browns. Acrylic on Canvas by Amy E. Fraser (1992-97). All images copyright Amy E. Fraser. All rights reserved.

"In sub-Saharan Africa, a shocking 28 million children are experiencing stunted growth due to malnutrition. Stunting prevents children from developing to their full potential mentally and physically, and it is largely irreversible.
Stunting is not the only form of malnutrition that affects children. Children who have severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of extreme hunger, can succumb to the disease in just a few days. Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop.
It doesn’t have to be this way for children in Africa, but we need your help now." ---SaveTheChildren.org

For more Amy E. Fraser art and information go to Aefraser.com

The African Period

November 13th, 2019

The African Period

Picasso had his African Period and apparently so did I. Mine wasn't exactly a trail blazing art event in world history like our famous "Genius Of The Century" but my African Period is still one of my favorites. When I was in high school me and my bestie used to dream of joining the Peace Corps, escaping to Africa and changing the world. I ended up going to art school instead but Africa still had a strong hold on my soul. So I painted about it. Here are some paintings from my African Period in the early 90’s:
Photo - Origin by Amy E. Fraser
Photo - Dancing Tree Spirit by Amy E. Fraser
Photo - Mother and Child by Amy E. Fraser
Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more: https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-african-period.html
Read more about Picasso's African Period on Wiki and PabloPicasso.org
To learn more about Amy and these works from her art school days, go to Aefraser.com

Overly Influenced

November 13th, 2019

Overly Influenced

In my post Feed The GOAT. I suggested choosing aspects from numerous artists to emulate. Remember the famous Pablo Picasso quote? "Good artists borrow. Great artists steal!" Ahhh, be careful about where you get your inspiration and how strongly you are influenced by it. I’m saying this from experience! I love H R Giger, he was steampunk before steampunk was a thing. A surrealist, a true visionary, and hello, Alien! That said, his work could be considered sexist and demeaning to women. Despite that, in my early twenties I was mildly obsessed with his baby imagery and was compelled to re-envision his visual dialogue using a similar baby pattern in my own work. (Obviously in what I believed was a more "feminist" context). Here is an example of how I was Overly Influenced by H R Giger:

Hatchery by Amy E. Fraser / Acrylic Paint on Masonite 2000 /

During the opening of my first NYC Chelsea Gallery Art Exhibition, H R Giger's agent happened to show up and commented on the similarity. Omg. The embarrassment. This was a serious Oh Shit I can’t believe I let that happen moment. During the conceptualization and creation of the Hatchery painting I had no idea that my inspiration was so apparent. However, lesson learned. Maybe the general public wouldn't have made the connection? I couldn't say, but whatever the case, I have been extremely conscious ever since. My humble advice, be a fan of many, study your art history, and always check your end result. You never know who your viewer will be. Do not assume you are the only one familiar with who you are Inspired by. Be aware. Be original. Be the greatest you of all time!
Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more:
https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/overly-influenced.html
Photo
This is me and the fabulous Jen F. in front of Hatchery
To learn more about Amy go to Aefraser.com

Feed the GOAT

November 13th, 2019

Feed the GOAT

Goats are awesome. I’ve loved goats since I was a kid, and now seemed like as good a time as any for a gratuitous cleavage shot. My husband took this photo, apparently I live up to his nickname "June Cleavage". Anyway... the GOAT I’m actually referring to is a common phrase at our house, usually spoken with god like reverence about Tom Brady. I don’t do sports so I had to ask what GOAT meant. Greatest Of All Time. I think everyone has the potential for GOATness. When I first went to Dartmouth one of my studio art professors asked who was my favorite artist? I said, I am. He stood aghast, jaw slamming the floor, unable to recover from my arrogant response. What I actually meant to say was, that while I love so many amazing artists, I refuse to emulate any one artist in particular. Therefore, No Favorites. Choosing a little of this and that from the greats and then combing that knowledge into your own art is the basis of creating your own vision. Discovering what appeals to you is discovering who you are. Your preferences form your personality and eventually your Artist Identity. Knowing who you are is the most important aspect of developing an Artist Style or Artist Brand. Be your own favorite artist and love what you make. Do it for you! Because if you don’t love you, no one else will. Find your inner voice and be the Greatest Of All Time!

To learn more about Amy go to Aefraser.com

AEF Circa 1988

November 11th, 2019

AEF Circa 1988

Just for fun I thought I'd share some early work, created when I was 15 years old (AEF Circa 1988):

English Garden Stroll by Amy E. Fraser (1988 Age 15)
Lady by the Lake by Amy E. Fraser (1988 Age 15)
Moonlit View by Amy E. Fraser (1988 Age 15)
Oceanside Thoughts by Amy E. Fraser (1988 Age 15)
Paradise Window by Amy E. Fraser (1988 Age 15)
Pink Cliff Bay by Amy E. Fraser (1988 Age 15)

Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more: https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/aef-circa-1988.html

These are obviously So Amazing! Lol! But in all seriousness, I do see the beginning of the Artist Brand and possibly the root of an Artist Style. There are even themes in play here of flora, fauna and femininity that will repeat off and on throughout my works for the next 30 years, and in all likelihood, continue beyond. And What? Look in the bottom right hand corner, there is the first emergence of the AEF icon!
So crazy to see these paintings again. My step father recently cleaned out his storage and brought these back to me. I had completely forgotten about the paintings, even though they had been part of my childhood bedroom/art studio décor for years. What a bizarre sensation it is to review my own past works. It is difficult not to view these paintings from the perspective of a mother whose son is currently a sophomore in high school, same as I was when these were painted. Kind of mind blowing!
Reminiscing aside, I am still thinking about how to structure The Legend of Hare Terra website, and now leaning toward setting the work deadline to begin in the New Year. One, I work better with self imposed deadlines and two, I have a thing about New Year, New Projects. Also I still have a ton of art to edit for other collections on AEFraser.com. Obviously I've been procrastinating. Editing is terribly boring... which may explain the recent uptick in my blog activity.
That, and perhaps I'll share that I have been intensely reviewing art marketing research over the past few months, investigating the marketing success and failure of my peers. From their accumulative experiences I have confirmed that posting daily on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook is extremely time consuming and NOT leading to direct sales. This goes back to the one consistent, the Patron is buying You the Artist, not just the Art. Slamming randos over the head with quick social media blips is not going to invite anyone to get to know you. What is? The best option for future customers to get to know you online, is a blog. I did not appreciate the full impact my former Exalted Beauty blog had until I ignored it and eventually deleted it.
So here I am, starting blog-fresh. Instead of sweating it out in the social media trenches, I will invest my "Marketing" time here, happily rambling away at my own pace. I've never been into art for the business aspect, and at this point in my life I have no real need for the hustle. If sharing somewhat indiscriminate art discussions and the casual release of random facts, while pondering over Artist Brand, Artist Biographies and the occasional sharing of Too Much Information is what you are interested in, then I'm your gal! I'm thrilled to have you here with me to participate in this journey! Thank you for joining me. You know what they say, "Sharing is Caring!"

Artist Biography Advice

November 11th, 2019

Artist Biography Advice

Bear With Me, by Amy E. Fraser (Age 5, 1979)

Here’s me in first grade, modeling my award winning Bear With Me T-shirt design. From what I remember this super amazing bear drawing won first place in our school competition, beating out all of the other students, grades 1-6. Not that you can tell from my bored expression but this was a pretty exciting accomplishment for a five year old and it probably set in stone my one and only career choice of *Artist*. You might say the Amy E. Fraser Artist Brand originated in this moment (lol). These sorts of accolades and awards continued for me throughout grade school and high school. Thanks to the support and encouragement of my step father I was also able to supplement my art education with college art courses throughout high school and was chosen to participate in numerous art electives like glass blowing and interior design. All of which played a part in my acceptance to Parsons School of Design. This sounds like a big deal for a small town country girl. And it was, Parsons is an elite art school (ranked #1 for Art and Design in the USA and #2 in the world), the Ego was certainly a thing… But oh let me tell you! The first day of orientation I received a serious reality check. All of us are sitting in the packed theater sweating our butts off (but still affecting our best art school airs) when the speaker says something along the lines of “each and every one of you was voted Most Artistic in your class, your school, maybe even your town, but get over it because now you are just one small fish in a giant sea of artists of your caliber or better”. Ouch. Bye Ego. Rewind, rethink, deflate, rebuild.
The moral of today’s art story? Trim down your Artist Biography! Please don’t take this the wrong way because trust me, I’ve made this mistake as well. But I’ve recently been reading your biographies and some of you sound like you think your pretty special... The reality is that no one cares that you have been an artist since birth, or that you won every art award at the county fair. That is not original or unique, and quite frankly it is similar for most of us who call ourselves Artists. Don’t bore your future patrons or gallery prospects with the same old, been there, heard that artist tale. Wow them with something truly distinctive to just you. Be Authentic, but never Ordinary! This is tough love, and I’m sorry if it is painful to hear, but someone had to tell you.
When in doubt, always remind yourself of the immortal words spoken by my favorite art school drag queen “Oh Honey, Calm Down, We Are All Fabulous Here!”

Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more: https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/artist-biography-advice.html

Artist Brand

November 10th, 2019

Artist Brand

The phrase Artist Brand is currently applied in marketing circles as a known entity, an idea now as commonplace as social media itself. Experts say you need to know your Artist Brand straight out of the cradle. The pressure is on, patrons are buying You the Artist, your Brand, so one must create their own unique Brand in order to have a long and successful career. Artists everywhere are panicking, grasping away at this fleeting, intangible concept, trying desperately to burn their mark into history. OMG! My Brand! I need one or I'll fade out of existence. But do we really even know what the Artist Brand is? To me it is the Artist's entire package, who you are, what you create, why you create it and how you do it. It's your personal philosophy, personality and your story. The Artist Brand is what makes you, you, those elusive qualities combined in a way that makes the viewer recognize your art, as your art. It is your voice, the soul, the essence of the work, the way your art makes someone else feel. Other aspects of the Artist Brand might include a recognizable Artist signature, style, logo, color palette, as well as a level of consistency and quality. Your brand might include specific subject matter or location. But really, your Artist Brand is a magical undefined thing that makes you stand out from all of the other artists doing exactly what you do. My personal Artist Brand has evolved over the decades and become more or less defined depending on my direction and motivation of the time. One aspect of my Artist Brand that I designed in 2004 was this AEF Logo:


Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more:https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/artist-brand.html

I continue to incorporate a variation of this AEF logo into my works in place of a traditional artist signature today. I still feel strongly about its power to aid in my personal Artist Brand recognition, keeping in mind that it is always included as a conscious part of each design, unlike many artist’s signatures that are splattered like after thoughts or simply just not included. My art matters to me, my authorship matters, because after all, the patrons are not only buying the art, but also You the Artist. This AEF signature was designed when I first started marketing the Exalted Beauty Medallions. Back then, before the prevalence of social media, I belonged to a small online community of artists whose advice and grasp of the Artist Brand were way ahead of its time. So in my way, I am paying it forward, by sharing my experiences on this blog. Here is a look at my business card from the same time period:

Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more:https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/artist-brand.html

With the evolution of my work focusing more toward the Exalted Beauty Medallions, I redesigned the AEFraser.com website to match. You may want a refresher of the first version seen here in “Self As Web Icon”. That’s what the experts call Re-Branding ladies and gentleman. It will happen to you as well, I’m sure. So while you are absolutely allowed to grow and change as an artist, stay true to yourself. "Be Authentic". Identify your message, meaning and intent and execute it. And most commonly recommended (although not followed by me personally) is, find your niche. Please research the concept of Artist Brand further on your own as I certainly am not an expert. I might add that even the experts have difficulty defining exactly what an Artist Brand is. It is definitely more than a logo design. The Artist Brand is a whole entity that needs deep contemplation and consideration, because by defining it, you are on many levels, defining yourself. There are countless articles on the Artist Brand topic and I highly recommend combining the set of "branding instructions" that work best for you. Or not, you could be anti-brand and there are plenty of articles available on that topic as well. Best of luck to you in all of your Art Marketing endeavors!

Hysterikos

November 10th, 2019

Hysterikos

In my last post “Artist as Subject” I closed with the joking statement “Stay tuned… no menstrual blood, I promise”. However, on second thought I’ve decided to share my painting series Hysterikos from 1998, which is in fact about Menstrual Blood. Series Description: The Hysterikos series are large scale, abstract paintings expressing the inner turmoil of the Uterus. The title Hysterikos is a Greek word meaning of the womb or suffering in the womb. This series expresses the pain and strength of women suffering from Endometriosis. Acrylic on Masonite. Hand painted by Amy E. Fraser (1998). Featuring a unique painting process developed by the artist, involving layers upon layers of transparent acrylic glazes. The series title comes from the Classical Greek hysterikos, suffering in the womb, hysterical from hystera, uterus: from the notion that women are hysterical more often than men. What is Endometriosis? “Endometriosis is when the tissue that makes up the uterine lining (the lining of the womb) is present on other organs inside your body. Endometriosis is usually found in the lower abdomen, or pelvis, but can appear anywhere in the body. Women with endometriosis often have lower abdominal pain, pain with periods, or pain with sexual intercourse, and may report having a hard time getting pregnant”. (Read more about Endometriosis). Here are some paintings from the Hysterikos series:

Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more: https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/hysterikos.html

The Hysterikos series is a prime example of painting “what you know”. Some of the most powerful art created derived from sharing an event or aspect that defined the artist’s existence. My intention with this series in 1998 was to create an image that became an experience, an open discussion with the viewer. The paintings were big, bold and confrontational. The series, while technically excellent, if I must say so myself, was in content, raw and personal. Not to mention, even in our enlightened age it was still a taboo topic. But in the spirit of the Feminist artists before me, I went for it. I later dedicated an entire chapter to Menstrual Blood in my book “Dissecting The Western Woman Artist; An Artist's Dialogue” so no need to pretend that I was all that shy about it.

What was the point of sharing Hysterikos and how does it relate to “Artist as Subject”? Today, in this era of over information, also known as TMI, patrons demand to know more of their Artists personal lives before they are willing to invest. But what information should you share? Are you going to be able to maintain the brand you began to develop in college in the next stages of your life? Maybe, maybe not. In my case, not so much. My confident disregard for social normality cost me a couple of art related jobs when I needed them most. I’m sharing this just in case you don’t want to figure these things out on your own. I’m offering the wisdom of my past experiences (I won’t say mistakes), in hopes that you will consider your actions and the long term perception of your work before you go all in. Always be true to yourself, honesty is everything! But keep in mind that while the practice of TMI is cathartic, it can have serious and some times negative long term consequences. However I survived, so shall you, No Regrets!
The Hysterikos series is currently available as POD at AEFraser.com

Artist as Subject

November 8th, 2019

Artist as Subject

In my last post “Self As Web Icon” we discussed the notion that the "buyer is buying You the Artist, not just the Art" and how I played with this concept to design my first website in 2002. Most of us would rather create the art then sell it. For those of us who are Introverts, the idea of putting our physical self in front of what we create is completely mortifying. We wonder, why can’t it just be about the work? But what if we were what we painted? What if the Artist is the Subject? Art school advice: Paint what you know! What do you know more than your own face? The popularity of Frida Kahlo and Vincent Van Gogh’s self portraits would suggest that the sale ability of self portraiture could be a viable option. Right? I mean sure, if your beyond awesome, or really lucky! However, be real with yourself. Is the Subject, you the Artist, interesting? Are you a character? Do you have an interesting life story? What is the message you want your portrait to convey? These were the hard questions I was pondering in the early days of the Internet almost a decade before Instagram was established in 2010. I concluded that yes I would be the subject but not in a typical portrait. See for yourself. These are some paintings I created while working toward creating “Art with Meaning and Intent”. My objective was to establish Face as Brand recognition (before it was a thing-so innovative!) using the Artist as Subject and focusing on the more confrontational concept of “The Female Gaze”:

Photos and active links are unavailable in this format. Please go to the official Amy E. Fraser Art blog to see more: https://aefraserart.blogspot.com/2019/11/artist-as-subject.html

Note the above paintings are very different then the work presented in the post “Self Portrait Paintings”. (For more info on individual paintings go to my Womankind gallery on Pinterest.) While the women were created in my likeness, I was more interested in expressing the concept of The Female Gaze then in a realistic self portrait. Much has been written from numerous perspectives on the subject of The Artist’s Gaze, The Female Gaze, The White Gaze…etcetera. I highly recommend looking into the art historical, philosophical and political concepts if you are not yet familiar. Also, fair warning, the concept originated in the 70’s, has since been tossed around for the last 40 years and has now become somewhat abused in the age of social media. But that will be up to you to decide. That’s all I have for today! I am working on numerous projects behind the scenes for AEFraser.com and The Legend of Hare Terra while I contemplate and share these delicious bits of personal Art History on the blog. What? I’m multitasking! I’m letting you get to know Me the Artist and all of my deep dark thoughts. The “They” said in our world of TMI you absolutely demand it! Up next, the days between my periods and… Just Kidding! Stay tuned… no menstrual blood, I promise.

 

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