Nature Morte is pleased to present a solo show of new works by the artist Olivia Fraser. Born in London in 1965 and raised in the Highlands of Scotland, Fraser has lived and worked in India since 1989. Deeply interested in the techniques and vocabulary of traditional Indian miniatures, she combines mineral and plant pigments and handmade paper with forms and ideas inspired by both Indian philosophies and modern Western art.  The early part of her career focused on architectural and genre scenes discovered during her travels in the sub-continent. In 2005 she studied the techniques of traditional miniature painting with masters in both Jaipur and Delhi, being influenced by both Nathdwara pichwai painting and early 19th Century Jodhpuri painting. She subsequently developed a practice which employs archetypal iconographies which are deeply rooted in India’s artistic and cultural heritage with styles that have been influenced by late Modernist schools of painting from Europe and the United States. 

For the present exhibition the artist has chosen the title “Amrit,” a Sanskrit term meaning immortality and also applying to nectar that can be consumed to achieve immortality. Fraser creates her own versions of mandalas and yantras, creating bridges between painting styles of the East and the West. She sees her practice as meditational and yogic, both in the process and for the viewer, and discovers a curious symbiosis between the iconography of Tantra and that of Optical and Psychedelic Art of the 1960s. In particular in this exhibition she has explored two icons, the lotus and the bee, to represent the twin poles of the passive and the active. Lustrous and beguiling, Fraser posits that her works might act as “visual roadmaps towards Enlightenment.

Olivia Fraser has held solo exhibitions of her work at the Grosvenor Gallery, London (2012, 2018), the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh (2016), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York (2016), Sunaparanta Center for the Arts, Goa (2013) and Indar Pasricha Fine Art, London (1998, 2003), among other locations. Her works are included in public and private collections in Australia, Belgium, France, India, Singapore, UAE, the United States and the UK.

Nature Morte is located at A1 Neeti Bagh, on the main Khel Gaon Marg, between Siri Fort Auditorium and Ansal Plaza. The gallery is open every day, from 10am to 6pm, but Sunday by appointment only. For more information or press images please contact Prachi Singh at (91)-88008-47914 or gallerymanager@naturemorte.com. Complete documentation of the exhibition and further information on the artists can be found on our website at: www.naturemorte.com.