Richard Frater, still from Sweet Apparitions '(08), 2008. DVD. Courtesy of the artist.

 

Richard Frater

4 May - 1 June 2009 in the Square² Gallery

Sweet Apparitions ‘08 2008
DVD
duration: 19 minutes, 18 seconds, looped
Courtesy of the artist

Sweet Apparitions ‘08 traces the gradual attrition of an architectural fixture made from crystallised sugar. The soluble structure is dissolved in water as we stand by, witnesses to an act of gentle destruction which emphasises both the frangibility of the material and the passing of time. Sweet Apparitions’ micro-drama – transformation, ‘ascension’ and disappearance – implies the consequence of a much larger event. When it is over we register an unanticipated sense of loss, an absence disproportionate to its brief existence. The fleeting structure’s vanishing links object, time and situation, and substitutes provisional recollection for the permanence of the object.

While citing drawing as its guiding principle, Richard Frater's work engages a number of disciplines. The artist is interested in the performative potential of materials, and the theatrical element in small staged acts of representation. Minimal gestures are used to create a relationship with the audience, often a very straightforward action taking the role of narrative. In this work Frater’s creation of ephemeral architecture relates interestingly to the developments taking place inside the Gallery building; the one presenting a microscopic parallel of the other.

Richard Frater is a founding member of the Auckland artist-run space A Centre for Art. In the past year he has completed significant projects for Vincent Grocery at Enjoy Public Art Gallery curated by Laura Preston, and ‘Architecture for the Nation – New Artists Show’ 2008 at Artspace. Richard graduated with a Post-Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland in 2006.