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"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"
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"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."
Amaltas is, like so many trees in India, associated with the sacred- in this case both with Krishna (his flute, in some Tamil texts, is said to be made from the long amaltas seed pod) and Shiva (the tree is thought to be an incarnation of Shiva with the showering blooms adorning his locks).
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The Moon has a wealth of symbolism associated with it and in Hindu philosophy there is the idea of the microcosm within the microcosm- of the world within the body:
“Even so large as the universe outside is the universe within the lotus of the heart. Within it are heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, lightening and the stars. Whatever is in the macrocosm is in the microcosm”.
Chadogya Upanishad c. 400BC-400AD
"I’ve attempted to reflect the idea of the micro within the macro in my Sun and Moon paintings. Using the fractal essence of both- fire and air- and spinning the iterated icons to reflect nature and the cosmos in perpetual motion while, all the while, reaching for a central stillness."
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"I’M FASCINATED BY THE IDEA OF HARNESSING THE SENSES DURING MEDITATION. IN THIS PAINTING I’M DRAWING ON THAT IDEA WITH THE BEE AND THE FLOWER BECOME ONE AS IN BHRAMARI- WHICH IS A YOGIC ASANA INVOLVING THE SOUND OF A BEE:"
Slowly draw in air and perform Bhramarikumbaka,Exhale it very slowly and then the sound of the bee will arise.
On hearing the sound of a bee from within, lead the mind there.
Samadhi will occur, together with the bliss arising from the realisation,“I am that.
- Gheranda Samhita. c.1700
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Olivia Fraser
Hive, 2020In this work OlIvia uses archetypal and ancient Indian ideas and iconographies to try and describe or reflect a contemporary idea of meditation. The colours blue and gold hold universal resonance with the transcendent and the sacred. in India the colour blue is especially associated with Vishnu – particularly in his incarnation as Krishna. Unlike the lotus, which also holds sacred resonances, associated as it is with the concept of purity (something beautiful and perfect that can survive, thrive and grow out of the murkiest of waters), there is not that much iconography centered around the bee in Indian art, however, there is a vast amount of poetry.
OLIVIA HAS made a number of paintings with the bee and the lotus as active and passive counterpoints to each other - reflecting the raft of Indian poetry which uses and metamorphosises these subjects to symbolise Krishna and his gopis.
"When the Krishna bee approached the lotus flower of Radharani’s face, He became completely maddened by its fragrance, and buzzing He continually hovered about it."
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"You cannot travel on the path,” said the Buddha,
“unless you become the path itself.”
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Olivia Fraser
Path II, 2021A lot of Olivia's work has developed out of her interest in and practice of yoga. The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit term meaning ‘union’ and is etymologically linked to the English word ‘yoke’. It is about connecting the mind, body and soul and harnessing the senses in an ever-flowing movement towards liberation, or the Absolute, which in yogic philosophy lies as much within the body as without.
In Indian art there is a tradition of assisting yoga practitioners to achieve this by providing what are in effect visual roadmaps to spiritual enlightenment. These take many different forms, ranging from mandalas and yantras (geometric images using archetypal shapes which are believed to store and generate positive energies) to maps of the Subtle Body, which represent the idea of the body as a microcosm of the universe.
Footprints signifying a holy presence have circulated throughout Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Islamic contexts for centuries. The foot as a symbol has grown out of the tradition of touching the feet of a revered person as a mark of respect. As the foot represents the lowest, humblest part of the body so it reflects a recognition of worship from the lowest to the highest.
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Limited Edition Prints Available for Sale
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Olivia FraserBlue Lotus, 2020Giclée print on epson enhanced matt paper
Signed, dated, titled and numbered from an edition of 100Image size: 63.5 x 63.5 cm (25 x 25 in)
Sheet Size: 73.7 x 73.7 cm (29 x 29 in)Edition of 100£400 (unframed) -
Olivia FraserThe Golden Lotus, 2018Giclée print on 310gsm Hahnemühle German Etching Paper
Signed, titled and numbered from an edition of 100Image size: 63.5 x 63.5 cm (24.9 x 24.9 in)
Sheet size 74 x 74 cm (29 1/8 x 29 1/8 in)£400 (unframed) -
Olivia FraserLotus, 2012Etching on Japanese rice paper
Signed, dated and numbered from an edition of 5038 x 36.5 cm
15 x 14 3/8 inEdition of 100£300 (unframed)
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Olivia FraserMoon, 2013Giclée print on 308gsm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
Signed, titled and numbered from an edition of 5054 x 54 cm
21 1/4 x 21 1/4 inEdition of 100£400 (unframed) -
Olivia FraserRed and Blue Dawn, 2012Screenprint on 410gsm Somerset tub size paper
Signed, dated and numbered from an edition of out of 10077.4 x 75.8 cm
30 1/2 x 29 7/8 inEdition of 100£750 (UNFRAMED) -
Olivia FraserKrishna I, II and III , 2010Giclée print on paper
Signed, dated, titled and numbered from an edition of 10068.5 x 45.7 cm each
27 x 18 in each£500 (Unframed)
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Olivia FraserKrishna I, 2010Giclée print on paper
Signed, dated, titled and numbered from an edition of 10068.5 x 45.7 cm
27 x 18 in£200 (unframed) -
Olivia FraserKrishna III, 2010Giclée print on paper
Signed, dated, titled and numbered from an edition of 10068.5 x 45.7 cm
27 x 18 inEdition of 100£200 (unframed) -
Olivia FraserBanyan Tree, 2010Giclée print on paper
Signed, dated, titled and numbered from an edition of 10068.5 x 45.7 cm
27 x 18 inEdition of 100£200 (unframed)
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OLIVIA FRASER: A JOURNEY WITHIN
PUBLISHER: HARPER COLLINS INDIAA Journey Within documents Olivia Fraser’s acclaimed paintings over the last decade, which reflect her remarkable inner quest towards elaboration by simplification. Following her induction into Indian miniature painting in a traditional Jaipur atelier, Fraser’s focus shifted from painting the world around her to depicting a landscape more metaphysical in nature. Trained by her Jaipuri gurus, she learned to grind and mix mineral pigments to their correct consistency. She is especially influenced by Nathdwara pichwai paintings and early nineteenth-century Jodpuri Mansingh-period imagery, produced by the Nath yogis, whose visual language reaches back to an archetypal iconography rooted in India’s deepest and most philosophical artistic heritage – complex abstract thoughts captured in seemingly simple visual language. The work Fraser has produced inspired by these twin muses is nevertheless profoundly contemporary, breaching both temporal and geographical borders, emerging as it does from her twin life between East and West.
HardbackPages: 208£35
Olivia Fraser: Indian Summer: Exhibition at Cromwell Place, London
Past viewing_room
