Pest Control 2019

This is Scott Fraser’s Pest Control, a painting of an orange monster toy and a silver egg-shaped object with bird feet, carefully balanced on a wooden plank. When I look at this painting, I imagine Fraser in his studio, playing with the push and pull of composition, surface and light. The orange monster is lurid and cartoonish, like something you might find in a toy store. The silver egg-shaped object is much more enigmatic, its smooth, reflective surface contrasting with the monster's spiky, matte texture. There's something surreal about it, like a dream logic at play. The balance between them creates an uncanny tension. Fraser has worked in a realist tradition but also seems to want to introduce elements of the absurd. And that’s what painters do, right? They experiment, borrow, and transform each other's ideas, and create something completely unique. I see it as an ongoing dialogue that transcends time.