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Email PageInnocence Lost: Works on Paper
April 12, 2007- May 19, 2007
Ed Fraga
511 Gallery
529 W 20th St511 Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Innocence Lost: Works on Paper, an exhibition of new paintings by Ed Fraga. In his most recent body of work, Fraga appears to be reaching deep into his psyche in an attempt to reconcile conscious thought with an unconscious mind. Although his work has explored the introverted realm of the self in the past, this most recent series is perhaps more explicitly and specifically a self-reflection. The paintings speak softly to the viewer, urging us to slow down and nearly compel us to adopt an unhurried and deliberately reflective stance. Our eyes are drawn to the meticulously painted narratives of reality and dreams, composed with an eye for detail, spatial composition, and a subordination of color to line. In Allegory of Childhood, Fraga loads the paper with symbolism, mixing porcelain statuettes alongside figurative surrealist landscapes, a crucifixion beside a childhood toy, and a headless figure shining light upon a faintly visible twin bed. Surrealist undertones are woven throughout the work, à la Yves Tanguy or René Magritte. Together, they tell a story about life that he makes blatantly obvious, using a sequence of chronological numbers placed beside each scene. However, as a viewer, we are left within Fraga’s contemplative arena—a psychologically introverted and intimate space.
As a child, Ed Fraga created dioramas and formed scenes using childhood toys, a subject which appears several times through this body of work. He constantly appears to be exploring childhood, both positively and negatively, in The Book of Innocence Lost. It opens with a single statuette of a young boy, who on the following page, we find lost and searching for his mother. Primarily done in white and pale shades of grey, this first page stands in stark contrast to the book’s conclusion, which is painted in deep shades of black, perhaps referencing an absent father. It is difficult to miss the obvious psychoanalytical undertones, and one can clearly draw connections to Freud’s writings concerning The Theory of the Oedipal Complex. Overt sexuality abounds in Fraga’s work, appearing clearly in the form of female genitalia beside a blooming flower. In another scene, a large phallic structure is surrounded by children praying, as it erupts violently; according to Freud, the phallus is a constant desire of our unconsciousness. This poses an interesting question: Can the conscious mind be released to let the unconscious mind take over? Freud stated that the “liberation of the unconscious” by the Surrealist movement was highly structured by the ego, since he believed the unconscious cannot express itself automatically. Fraga’s paintings evoke the real and surreal simultaneously, and we find a new movement in the paint, a looseness and fluidity that gives this new work a raw and emotional overtone.
This is Ed Fraga’s second solo exhibition at 511 Gallery. His paintings are in the collections of The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and the Cranbrook Art Museum, as well as several public and private collections. His work was most recently exhibited in group shows at the DIA and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. In addition, he has been a recipient of the Bellagio Center Residency from the Rockefeller Foundation and a Visual Arts Fellowship Award from the NEA. The artist lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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