We are delighted to announce our upcoming exhibition, ‘Olivia Fraser: Indian Summer’, taking place at the prestigious Cromwell Place in London. We will be located in Gallery 10 on the ground floor of the building. Cromwell Place will be open via appointment via their online booking link.
The exhibition will feature a selection of Olivia’s latest body of works, all executed in the past year during her time spent between India and the UK. Being in and out of lockdown, Olivia turned to and found solace in nature. Whether it was among the blossoms of the Amaltas trees or the bounty of sweet Indian mangoes, the spiritual connections associated with nature provided a “boon to the soul and a pleasure to the senses signalling a hope for the future.”
“I painted these works during the first lockdown in India, just as the summer heat was notching up into the early forties (degrees). As a Northern Scot, even after all these years in Delhi, I find extreme heat challenging, but when the Amaltas trees (the Indian laburnum) burst into bloom in May, their golden boughs light up and lift the streets of Delhi out of their hot torpor.”
- Olivia Fraser, April 2021
We are extremely fortunate to be showing these works for the very first time at Cromwell Place.
Olivia will be present for the duration of the exhibition.
The Amaltas trees and mangoes depicted in ‘Indian Summer I and II’ are a reminder of the summer season in India and the joy the season can bring. “I watched the Amaltas tree outside my studio window come into its sunshine bloom over the course of the weeks that I was painting this.”
Olivia’s continued interest in yoga, the different visualizations used in meditation and nature itself (an inner and outer vision) have also influenced these new works. In Bloom, she has depicted a blue Lotus flower in the middle surrounded by two golden bees. The lotus flower has ancient sacred associations within the art of India. As a flower that blooms out of the mud, it is associated with purity, perfection, resurrection and spiritual growth. The lotus along with the colour blue are both used to depict Lord Krishna in Hindu mythology.
In Sun and Moon, Olivia has reflected the idea of the micro within the macro and captured the essence of the infinite with the use of fractal like imagery. For further information on her recent works please visit the Viewing Room.
To celebrate this year's major Eileen Agar retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery, The Redfern Gallery have invited five contemporary artists, including Olivia to respond to Agar’s work. Olivia’s works will be on display at the Redfern Gallery, London from 17 May – 27 July 2021.
