Gone Fishing 2018

Editor: Rose Freymuth-Frazier’s "Gone Fishing," created in 2018 with oil paint, is striking! It feels almost surreal, this woman lounging with a snorkel and inner tube. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Well, let's consider the materials. The use of oil paint itself, historically associated with high art, is interesting in contrast to the domestic scene. The depicted objects – the snorkel, the inner tube, the fishing net – these are mass-produced commodities. Are we meant to consider their social implications? Their role in leisure and consumer culture? Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way. It felt more like a dream. Curator: Perhaps, but dreams are also constructed. Look at the precise rendering of the fishnet and her patterned stockings. The labor involved in creating such textures contrasts sharply with the implied leisure of the subject. And what about the figure at the lower left holding what seems to be a book, but surrounded by the exact same type of netting? Does this suggest a blurring between leisure and creative production? How might her practice be like that of a fisher? Editor: That's an interesting point! It makes me think about the production of the painting itself - the labor that went into creating the illusion of leisure. Curator: Exactly. And think about the role of the artist within a capitalist structure. "Gone Fishing" then becomes a statement of value regarding artistic labor. This interplay of class, materiality, labor, and artistic production makes it a compelling modern statement, no? Editor: Definitely! I am seeing this artwork from a whole new perspective. It is far more intricate than my first impression. Thanks for shedding some light into how material conditions define the image and its meanings. Curator: My pleasure. Considering materials brings out previously hidden contexts of value that exist both inside the image and beyond it.