Mathematics - Camden Art Centre

Since the early 1980s, Peter Fraser has been at the forefront of pioneering colour photography as fine art.

With an almost obsessive focus on the ‘stuff’ of the world, Fraser is concerned with the matter that comprises our everyday. Rather than constructing his photographs, Fraser establishes a conceptual framework through which to respond to found images and situations. He treats panoramic landscape and the smallest details with the same intense attention, revealing the incidental beauty and strangeness of our surroundings.

For his exhibition at Camden Art Centre, Fraser presented his most recent body of work Mathematics. Reflecting on the idea that time, space, and everything within it, can be described mathematically, Fraser bought together a series of photographs of seemingly disparate and unrelated objects and encounters – including still lifes, landscapes and portraiture. Through their oblique juxtaposition and his almost analytical focus, he drew attention to the underlying patterns and forces which shape the world and our perception of it, as well as the systems of belief through which we try to understand and describe it. In this way his work might be seen to draw our attention to the spectacular and interconnected nature of everything that surrounds us, from the sublime to the mundane.

Images Artist Film

The Artist

Peter Fraser (b. 1953, Cardiff, UK) graduated in photography from Manchester Polytechnic University in 1976. In 1982, Fraser began working with a Plaubel Makina camera, which led to an exhibition with William Eggleston at the Arnolfini, Bristol, in 1984. In that year Fraser went on to spend time living and working with Eggleston in the States. Recent solo shows include The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2002); Brancolini Grimaldi, London (2012); Tate St Ives (2013); Real Jardin de Botanico, Madrid (2017). In 2004, he was shortlisted for the Citibank Photography Prize.

Introductory Talk: Peter Fraser, Yuko Mohri & Chris Fite-Wassilak

Thursday 5 July, 6.00 – 7.00pm

Artists Peter Fraser and Yuko Mohri discuss their exhibitions with writer and critic Chris Fite-Wassilak.

Peter Fraser (b. 1953, Cardiff, UK) graduated in photography from Manchester Polytechnic University in 1976. In 1982, Fraser began working with a Plaubel Makina camera, which led to an exhibition with William Eggleston at the Arnolfini, Bristol, in 1984. In that year Fraser went on to spend time living and working with Eggleston in the States. Recent solo shows include The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2002); Brancolini Grimaldi, London (2012); Tate St Ives (2013); Real Jardin de Botanico, Madrid (2017). In 2004, he was shortlisted for the Citibank Photography Prize.

Yuko Mohri (b. 1980, Kanagawa, Japan) is an artist whose installations detect invisible and intangible forces such as magnetism, gravity and light. In 2015, Mohri received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council for a residency in New York. She has participated in a number of exhibitions both in Japan and abroad, including the 14th Biennale de Lyon 2017 (France), Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 (India) and the Yokohama Triennale 2014. Mohri is the Grand Prix winner of the Nissan Art Award 2015 and is also the recipient of Culture and Future Prize at the 65th Kanagawa Cultural Award in 2016 and the New Artist Award at the 67th Japanese Ministry of Education Award for Fine Arts in 2017.

Chris Fite-Wassilak is a writer and critic based in London. He is a regular contributor to Apollo, Art Monthly, Art Papers, ArtReview and frieze; his writing has also appeared in Art & Australia, Artforum.com, Flash Art, Monopol, Rhizome and Tate Etc. He is a contributing editor of ArtReview, and co-organiser with artist Anne Tallentire of the event ‘hmn’. His short book of essays, Ha-Ha Crystal (2016) is published by Copy Press.

Gallery Tours: Peter Fraser & Yuko Mohri

Wednesdays & Saturdays, 12.00 & 4.00pm

Drop in for free, short gallery tours led by our Volunteer Front of House assistants.

The tours begin in the Central Space.

Weekend Enquiry: Observation and Visualisation in Art and Science

1 & 2 September
10.30am – 4.30pm

In response to Peter Fraser’s exhibition Mathematics, artist and researcher Gemma Anderson leads this weekend course, focusing on the twin themes of morphology and drawing. The course will take place across Camden Arts Centre’s Garden, Drawing Studio and Hampstead Heath.

Morphology is the study of the form, shape and structure of things. Through a series of experimental and intuitive drawing and visualisation methods, the aim of the course will be to develop and share new ways in which drawing practice can enhance morphological insight, specifically within the contexts of art, the natural sciences and mathematics.

This course will highlight historical and contemporary practices of independent investigations in Art and Science through the work of artists, scientists and thinkers such as Goethe, Klee, Thistlewood and Mundy as well as linking to contemporary philosophers in the field of ‘Process Philosophy’ such as John Dupre.

This course runs over full days. There will be a break for lunch between 1.00pm and 2.00pm each day. Lunch is not provided.

Gemma Anderson works across the visual arts, the life sciences, mathematics and philosophy to explore life forms and processes. She is interested in drawing as a mode of enquiry, a way of knowing, and of modelling life processes to the extent that drawing does not seek to illustrate but to be like the phenomena in question. Anderson’s research takes various forms, including paper artworks (drawings, etchings, watercolours, origami) academic papers, workshops, talks and installations, with the venues ranging from museums, art spaces, journals, botanical gardens, universities and scientific labs. Her work has been exhibited and published widely from the Victoria and Albert Museum to journals such as Leonardo (MIT Press) and her recent peer reviewed book ‘Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science’ (Intellect, 2017). Anderson currently works in academia as a research fellow (co-investigator, AHRC grant) at the University of Exeter and is an associate lecturer of Drawing at Falmouth University. This year Anderson developed the course syllabus ‘Biology and Art: investigations through drawing’ as the international visiting scholar at Grinnell College (US).

Talk: Dr Daniel Glaser

Wednesday 5 September, 7.00 – 8.00pm

Broadcaster, neuroscientist and director of Science Gallery at King’s College London, Dr Daniel Glaser leads a talk on his research and the relationship between art and science. This event has been programmed to coincide with Peter Fraser’s exhibition Mathematics.

Dr Daniel Glaser initially studied mathematics before training as a neuroscientist. He previously worked at Wellcome Trust where he headed up their engaging science work. He was the world’s first scientist in residence at an arts institution at the ICA in 2002 and was the first scientist to judge the Man Booker prize in 2014. He is the presenter of the Guardian Podcast series A Neuroscientist Explains, and has presented a television series for the BBC on how science really works. His scientific research involves the use of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine how experience, prejudice and expectation alter the way we see the world.

Exhibition Tour: Peter Fraser and Yuko Mohri

Sunday 16 September, 3.00  3.45pm

Camden Arts Centre Director Martin Clark leads a tour on the final day of the exhibitions Peter Fraser: Mathematics and Yuko Mohri: Voluta.