Douglas Fryer 2017 Meyer Gallery Exhibition Catalogue

Douglas Fryer Beyond the Fences

Douglas Fryer

Beyond the Fences December 8-14, 2017

on the cover: West Pasture, Late Autumn oil 17x30

Meyer Gallery 225 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 505.983.1434 800.779.7387 www.MeyerGalleries.com

Douglas Fryer was born in Salt Lake City , Utah, and was raised in Illinois and California. In 1988 he received a BFA in Illustration from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and later returned to BYU for further study toward an MFA in Painting and Drawing, completing the degree in 1995. Douglas has taught fine art and illustration at several universities and art schools, including BYU, The University of Hartford in Hartford Connecticut, and at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

Although he works mainly in oil, Douglas enjoys working in a variety of mediums including watercolor, printmaking, and digital. His love of landscape stems from having lived in many beautiful areas of the country, including seven years in rural Vermont, and most recently central Utah.

His personal works are moving images of places, objects and people that have simple, yet profound significance to him. He hopes that those who view his paintings will sense his love for his subjects and his pleasure in working with his materials.

Douglas Fryer’s landscapes range from timeless imagery painted with serene clarity to atmospheric scenes with an edge of mystery. For his solo exhibition, Beyond the Fences, the Utah artist reveals nature’s complexities with visions that are at once harsh and beautiful, peaceful yet wild.

We interviewed the artist for an exclusive look at his painting process, inspiration, and visionary approach to painting the landscape as we anticipate the opening of Beyond the Fences on December 8th . on previous page: Storm Shadow, Ireland oil 17x48 on the right: Rain in the Evening Light oil 12x12

The blocking-in part of painting is a very active, energetic and intuitive part of the process for me. It establishes the theme and gesture of the painting. I tend to get a lot of paint down quickly. I want to make general, broad choices of value and color. Even though I am painting shapes and planes, I try to push edge into edge, using a generous amount of paint. I use a lot of different tools at this stage, and I will quickly move from trowel to knife to brush and then back again - going as far as I can with one stroke and one tool, then switching when I feel the need. I try to get a wide variety of marks and passages of color temperature and value. I will use a 4� trowel, a painting knife, a flat bristle brush, a soft synthetic brush and a sable sometimes back and forth from the start to the finish. As the painting progresses I get more specific, but at times I try to broaden and simplify by taking detail out. As I work in layers in different sittings, I use additive and subtractive methods to create the marks and patterns that give the surface character, and aid in extending the variety necessary for the vision I have for the work.

Irish Sky at Dusk oil 12x12

Thistle Creek (Spring) oil 8x8

Summer Shadows oil 16x36

Any method of rendering becomes an extension of the artist’s way of seeing and becomes the convention he uses to interpret and represent things that are in the world or in the imagination.

Our eyes always see things in a state of relative motion and relative abstraction, but our brain functions in a way that tricks us into thinking everything is still, solid and compartmentalized. Also, I believe our culture has become desensitized in a way, and we tend to think things look real only if they look photographic, but paradoxically, photos have little to do with how we really see things.

Thistle Creek (April) oil 8x8

Remaining Moment oil 12x12

The camera does not discriminate, has no value system that tells it some things are relatively more important than others, and the camera has far less sensitivity to ranges of light and dark. Our binocular vision can see around objects and edges. While I focus on one subject, all others become blurred. The camera can crudely mimic that, but only if we set it to do that, and even then it isn’t the same. There is also the element of the passage of time and our movement through space as part of our reality. We are very rarely static and are never able to focus on all things within our range of vision at all times. Sometimes I want to express the idea that reality is more fluid, and though my eye and mind may focus on one thing in a scene, in reality all else is soft, interpenetrating in motion.

Rabbit Brush and Sage oil 24x24

Although I am always tempted to paint scenes that would be considered “idyllic,� my attention usually tends toward locations and subjects that most artists would reject as un-picturesque. These usually offer more to me as potential for something meaningful. It is difficult for me to make a scene that is already beautiful any more beautiful without tending toward sentimentality. But a scene that is a little less stereotypically lovely often becomes fascinating in a different way, and through close observation, interpretation, and the painting process I can suggest the importance, the significance of the place. This is what becomes beautiful to me, and hopefully also to the viewer.

South Pasture oil 8x8

Hierba Amarilla oil 12x12

Indiananola Summer oil 33x33

The concept of the ideal scene is elusive and puzzling, but it starts with an internal feeling of thrill and excitement of pictorial and compositional potential. The scene has beauty, but with an edge, an element of harshness, wildness, mystery, complexity and unity. That image can be a location on a road just outside of town, or it can be from my travels in a distant place. It can be from any season, and any time of day. It can be a place I have studied with intensity or a place I have glimpsed out of the corner of my eye as I drive down the highway.

Gentle Breezes oil 8x8

Sage and Spring Willows on the Sevier Rivver oil 12x30.25

Mountain Ranch, Winter oil 12x12

West Fields, Winter Sketch oil 7x11.25

I hope viewers would feel similar to how I feel when I create the work. I try to be contemplative and reflective. I strive for a sense of peace and unity, but with recognition of the edge, the mysterious complexity there is in nature. Importance and significance can be found in the simplest of visions and choices, and in unexpected locations. A painting is the encapsulation of the artist’s frame of mind, his craft, his values and his imagination. Hopefully the viewer shares in these, and the painting gives expression to his point of view as well as that of the artist.

New Snow oil 13.5x12

Canyon Winds, December oil 12x9

Mountain Storm oil 12x9

Cedars in Snow Squall oil 15x30

Douglas Fryer Beyond the Fences Canyon Winds, December Cedars in Snow Squall Gentle Breezes Hierba Amarilla Indiananola Summer Irish Sky at Dusk Lengthening Shadows Meadow Walk Mountain Ranch, Winter Mountain Storm New Snow Rabbit Brush and Sage Rain in the Evening Light Remaining Moment Sage and Spring Willows on the Sevier River South Pasture Storm Shadow, Ireland Summer Shadows Thistle Creek (April) Thistle Creek (Spring) Three Anjou Pears West Fields, Winter Sketch West Pasture, Late Autumn

12x9 15x30 8x8 12x12 33x33 12x12 6x12 8x8 12x12 12x9 13.5x12 24x24 12x12 12x12 12x30.25 8x8 17x48 16x36 8x8 8x8 7.75x12 7x11.25 17x30

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Three Anjou Pears oil 7.75x12

Douglas Fryer

Beyond the Fences

December 8-14, 2017 Opening Reception Friday December 8, 2017, 5 to 7pm

225 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 505.983.1434 800.779.7387 www.MeyerGalleries.com