Love Seeker 2022

Curator: Oh, what a dreamy countenance! He almost appears to be floating amidst those flowers and butterflies... Editor: We are looking at Rose Freymuth-Frazier's "Love Seeker" painted in 2022 using oils. There's a distinct contemporary romanticism at play, I think. What do you see in that transparent globe around his head? Curator: A sense of protected isolation, perhaps? He's seeking love, yet shielded, almost like he’s navigating love from a distance. The flowers—aren't they usually symbols of love and beauty?—seem to pierce through his hands, leaving traces of blood. Is love painful in this world? It feels terribly melancholic. Editor: Interesting take. Framing it through social conventions, I’m wondering how contemporary portraiture can challenge, or even reaffirm, classical ideas of romantic longing. It's in oil paint, so is Freymuth-Frazier trying to speak to art history here? And what statement is being made by encasing the sitter’s head in something reminiscent of vintage diving gear or, dare I say, even an astronaut’s helmet? Is it an issue of personal security? Curator: It could well be! And isn't it lovely how those Monarch butterflies dance around him, creatures so utterly symbolic of metamorphosis and change? The artist almost seems to be using them as messengers, weaving an invitation for change. It all resonates so deeply. This feels like a very private experience being made public, doesn’t it? Editor: Public, certainly. Museums, galleries, they all are spaces of enforced observation, so is "Love Seeker" playing on vulnerability, and in doing so making a larger social comment? What type of person is being represented in such an exposed fashion and for what public purpose? Curator: He seems trapped between reality and an ideal—suspended like those painted roses suspended between two tones of blue on the backdrop. Editor: Precisely. So much in one image. It asks a lot from us as viewers, wouldn’t you say? Curator: Definitely. And it generously repays us for what we give. A real treasure. Editor: An artwork ripe for future viewing, without a doubt.