Scallop Shells 2020

Here we have Scott Fraser’s painting of two scallop shells in oil paint. The color palette is soft, subtle, and sandy. The piece looks carefully rendered and yet also strangely flat; the process is so concealed as to bring it to the surface. I love the ridges of the shells. They evoke waves and the way water moves in and out of the sea, a real sense of ebb and flow. You could almost be touching them. The texture in the shell on the right is thicker and more pronounced. I can almost feel the painter’s hand, the pressure of the brush against the canvas. The shells sit against a neutral ground, but this is carefully worked to create light and shadow. This work reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, who spent his career painting bottles. Both artists turn the mundane into something sublime. They show us how to really look, to appreciate the small things in life, and how art embraces multiple interpretations.