Neil Frazer is a quiet, awe-inspiring man, much like his subject matter. He lets his spectacular paintings do most of the talking.

I interviewed Frazer at his eclectic Sydney residence (a chaotic studio upstairs and modernist home downstairs) where he is working on two new series for exhibition this month.

While each series depicts very different types of wild, craggy landscape, they both evoke a real sense of strength and solitude, for which Frazer is revered.

EXPLORATION

Frazer was born in Canberra, Australia, in 1961 but grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand. He was educated at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1985.

After art school he received a Fulbright scholarship, which enabled him to spend time studying in New York. He then returned to New Zealand, continuing to paint full time. In 1999 he moved to Sydney, where he is now represented by Martin Browne Fine Art.

“Ever since I was 14 I’ve had a studio at home,” says Frazer.

“At school I was only interested in art and it’s never changed. My best days always have painting in them. I feel disappointed if I don’t paint.”

Frazer started as an abstract painter. As Martin Browne says, while Frazer’s work continues in the tradition of Australian and New Zealand modernism (which has sought to synthesise the predominant 20th-century artistic trend – abstraction – with a strong tradition of landscape painting), he differs from artists such as Fred Williams and Colin McCahon, who started from a figurative background and developed their motifs towards increasingly abstract imagery.

“My earlier works were large and very expressive,” Frazer says. “I have always been a very physical painter – I experiment a lot with what paint can do.

"My abstract works always alluded to the natural world, but it wasn’t until 2005 that they became more obviously figurative and they started to be about particular places. This coincided with my desire to get out into the landscape to climb mountains (well, smallish ones), go out on the ocean and explore the desert.”

“Although in his recent paintings the landscape is clearly the source and impetus for his imagery,” Browne says, “the muscularity and painterliness of his surfaces clearly show that he has brought to these works the lessons and disciplines of abstract painting.

"These paintings – although landscapes – could only have been made by a sophisticated abstract painter.”

A unique feature of Frazer’s recent work is whited-out areas that create the illusion of space and reflection in his large painted landscapes.

“My paintings combine both abstract and figurative elements,” he says. “I like the scale to be ambiguous – the landscape is so vast and amazing, how can you rein it in? I intend for the white areas to make the picture feel like it goes beyond the edges of the canvas.”

INSPIRATION

Frazer finds most of his inspiration off the beaten track, with the glaciers in New Zealand and the deserts in Australia being particular favourites.

“I travel regularly. I will hear about a particular landform or location and will spend a few days in the area just walking and looking. I usually go to these places with an idea but come back with something completely different.

“Most places I go to are isolated areas with no one around, compelling landscapes that have a rawness, physicality and real strength about them, that sit relatively unchanged by people.

"That’s one of the very cool things about moving from abstract to figurative – now I get to go up in a helicopter or trek out into the wilderness to study the landscape. I’ve seen some amazing places.

“Plein air [outdoor] painting doesn’t work for me. I prefer to work from an idea, an experience of a place, rather than paint on location. I usually refer to a collection of photographs so my work doesn’t become too stylised, but mostly each work is a layered process of ideas fuelled by gestural optimism, a hope that the piece is going to work.

“Unfortunately, this process means I end up trashing about half the work I do. Walking away from a piece is a very hard thing to do after I’ve put so much time and energy into each one, but it’s what works for me.”

REFLECTION

A selection of Frazer’s most recent works is being exhibited at Milford Galleries in Auckland. Inspired by the black sandy beaches of Karekare on the west coast, Frazer is experimenting with reflections in this series.

“My work is always evolving. It’s hard to know where it’s going, but I always enjoy playing with new processes,” he says. “I like how reflections can play with reality and illusion, and the idea that they are a type of pictorial conversation.”

Another group of recent paintings will be exhibited at Bowen Galleries in Wellington. It features stunning glacial-type landscapes inspired by New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

Gallery director Jenny Neligan says, “Frazer’s exhibitions are always such a great experience. He has such fine control and strong aesthetic sense. Like all of Frazer’s work, there is a real physical quality to this collection.”

“I prefer working with larger canvases because it allows me to inhabit a painting,” Frazer says. “I put a great deal of physical energy into my work and I find if the canvas is too small I destroy it with my energetic brushstrokes.”

Frazer’s finished paintings radiate the artistic vitality and impressive physical strength of a man who certainly has a connection with the towering landscapes he depicts.

EXHIBITIONS

7 April – 3 May 2008

Bowen Galleries

35 Ghuznee Street

Wellington, New Zealand

www.bowengalleries.co.nz

22 April – 10 May 2008

Milford Galleries Auckland

26 Kitchener Street

Auckland, New Zealand

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Martin Browne Fine Art

57–59 Macleay Street

Potts Point, Sydney

www.martinbrownefineart.com