Nature Morte is pleased to present an exhibition of works by two artists who question and reinterpret the inherited traditions of India in both artistic practices and ideological propositions.

Olivia Fraser (born 1965, London) earned an MA in Modern Languages from Oxford University before studying at Wimbledon Art College. She left the UK to go to India in 1989 and has been based in New Delhi on and off ever since. Initially, her works made in India followed a program of Western watercolor painting, specializing in architectural rendering and depictions of everyday life inspired by the Company School style of painting. After studying both the techniques and iconographies of miniature painting in Jaipur, her work has become more “Indian,” in its references to traditions, but also more “Modernist,” in its reductive and monochromatic formations. Fraser’s particular interest in cosmological iconographies has led her to see her artistic practice as both deconstructivist and meditational, a search for basic archetypes that are both personalized and universal. Her minimalist renderings are also painstakingly detailed and luxurious, creating bridges to other forms of abstract painting, both Western and Asian.

Michael Bühler-Rose (born 1980, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA) lives predominantly in New York. He has been a student of Vaishnavism since the age of 14 and has studied Sanskrit and philosophy for many years in India. He received a BFA degree from Tufts University and his MFA from the University of Florida in Gainesville and presently is employed as an assistant professor in the Department of Photography of the Rhode Island School of Design. His practices on multiple platforms influence his artistic production and he has described his subjects as “theatrical cultural realities.” On view will be his works in both photography and video which examine instances of metamorphosis (from matter to spirit, from Indian to international, from traditional to contemporary, from naïve to corrupt) using images sourced from realms both earthly (Bollywood films and actors, American students of Bharata Natyam) and transcendental (the rituals and refuse of Hindu piety). Bühler-Rose’s works expand upon recent theories of Relational Aesthetics and fold the dialectics of Conceptual Art together with Vaishnavite experiences.