Renaissance 2015

Rose Freymuth-Frazier painted “Renaissance” in oil, and what strikes me is the way she's handled the colour – a deep, historical palette creating a dramatic stage. The texture here is key. Look at how Freymuth-Frazier builds up the forms of the dogs, using the materiality of the paint to give them weight and presence. There's a lusciousness to the surface, particularly in the play of light across their muscles. You can almost feel the brushstrokes, thick and deliberate, that shape their bodies. Now, let your eye drift up to the background – see how the clouds swirl, a hazy mix of umber and ochre. The colour palette and tonal range evokes an art historical approach. This piece reminds me a bit of some of John Currin's paintings, in the way it reinterprets classical tropes with a contemporary sensibility. But where Currin can be a bit slick, Freymuth-Frazier has a rawness, a directness that's all her own. It's a painting that revels in the ambiguity, inviting us to see familiar forms in a whole new light.