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NLach-Nielsen of Denmark, among others.
“Each person is coming at it with such emotion.
I’m excited about putting it all together,” says Eliasi.
Freymuth-Frazier’s Girl Resting is charged with
emotion and poignancy. A young woman lies
on the floor, her bruised face turned toward the
viewer in a vacant expression, as if she’s removed
herself mentally and emotionally from the physical
world. Painted a decade ago, this is the first time
the piece has been exhibited in a gallery. “When
it was completed I was a young female figurative
artist, not commercially minded at all, just trying
to paint sincerely from my own perspective and
trusting that my voice might have relevance to
others. I didn’t know it would take a decade for
this work to see the light of day, but I should have
guessed when the painting single-handedly scared
off a very powerful art dealer, an older man, who
came for a studio visit back then,” says Freymuth-
Frazier. “Clearly, I wasn’t thinking about sales.
I was feeling for a stylized presentation of the
unthinkable, but with the title I wanted to present
a sense of hope. She is beaten and bruised; she is
down, but she’s not out. It is the depiction of the
darkest moments just before the light returns. It’s
a reminder that this is not the end. She will regain
her strength and prevail.”
Eliasi echoes Freymuth-Frazier’s sentiments
regarding the approach she took with the content
of her paintings when she first started out—this
attitude of creating whatever felt important to her,
rather than concerning herself with commercial
success. “I love her more risk-taking pieces. They
seem to come from a more genuine place...They talk
about physical and mental abuse, but the expres-
sions on the girls’ faces are so strong. They’ve
come out on the other side...Even if someone may
not want to live with that in their living room,
I think they’re such important pieces to display...To
see that women can make it out on the other side,”
says Eliasi. Although nowadays Freymuth-Frazier
approaches her work in a more practical way, art
still has immense value for her. “What art means to
me has changed so much over the years. Now it is
a lifeboat, something stable to hang onto. I used to
resent the mundane and tedious aspects of painting,
but now I cherish the consistency of the practice,”
says the artist.
Another piece by Freymuth-Frazier in the show,
a triptych titled Hear No Evil, See No Evil and
Speak No Evil, is based on the proverb of the “three
wise monkeys,” she explains. “There are numerous
meanings attributed to them, but I was interested
in a Western interpretation of the refusal of moral
responsibility, turning a blind eye to those in need.
Each of these women could be seen as a victim
of some kind of brutality or humiliation, but an
internal strength neutralizes that position. They
are strong even during great tribulation.”
Caimi’s paintings blend figurative realism and
abstraction to explore societal ideas about women.
Setting themselves apart with their vivid color
palettes and eccentric subject matter portrayed in
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