{"id":4018,"date":"2021-08-19T15:29:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artechouse.com\/?p=4018"},"modified":"2021-08-19T15:29:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:29:55","slug":"artist-check-in-vince-fraser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artechouse.com\/artist-check-in-vince-fraser\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Check-In: Vince Fraser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A chat with Vince Fraser of ARTECHOUSE Miami\u2019s A\u1e63\u1eb9: Afro Frequencie<\/em>s<\/a> about his creative process, upcoming projects, and more.<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Artist Check-In is a series where we check in with our collaborators to reflect on their experiences showing at ARTECHOUSE, as well as what they\u2019re up to now, amongst other things.<\/em><\/strong>
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We recently caught up with Vince Fraser, who collaborated with us to bring A\u1e63\u1eb9: Afro Frequencies<\/em><\/a> <\/em>to life at ARTECHOUSE Miami; the exhibition celebrates the historical, social, and cultural aspects of the Black experience, and it\u2019s on view until November 7th, 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, he\u2019s yet to see the exhibition due to the pandemic. It\u2019s been strange for him not to see his own work in the flesh, but he\u2019s gotten a lot of great feedback via social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vince<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be fair, I’ve seen so much of it, even though I haven’t actually been there; so many of my followers have been, and they’ve sent me messages, or simply photos of the actual event. It almost feels like I could probably literally go there just by closing my eyes and walk around the room and know where everything is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked him if he\u2019s had any favorite social media responses, and he let us in on a great one that shows how ARTECHOUSE really brings accessibility to the table for people who might not usually be interested in art in the traditional sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m always quite humbled when I see all these people sending me messages and photos. I think one which really stood out for me was when one of my followers messaged me, and she said, \u2018I took all my family to see the exhibition.\u2019 And she said her dad absolutely hates<\/em> art. Anything to do with art, it\u2019s just not for him. So she basically dragged everyone there, and out of everyone in the family, he was the one who liked it the most. She said she literally had to drag him out because he didn\u2019t want to go! That was quite funny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason London-based Fraser hasn\u2019t been able to experience his work in person is that the UK has had an on-and-off-again lockdown policy, but fortunately (aside from affecting his travel options) the pandemic has not had a huge impact on his creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGenerally<\/em> it hasn’t really affected me, because I’m quite used to it. I’m quite used to being inside and working on my own and doing my own thing. It’s sort of quite normal. But I know for other people, they are finding it very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of his creative process, we asked him to elaborate on his routine and the things that help him to get going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI generally have a set kind of day. Usually, I’ll have my vanilla latte…just basic things around me, really. I’ve got an electric desk, which moves up and down, which is pretty cool. Got to have my adjustable chair as well. And I always have music in the background; that definitely helps my creative flow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His interest in music stems from his older brother and sister, who both exposed him to reggae and soul growing up. He later got into the acid house scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn London in the late eighties, when I was in my teens, acid house came out. It blew my head, basically. I was at that age where it was exactly right – it was completely new, no one knew anything about it; you sort of had to be in this special clique, phone a number to find out where the rave was, go to a meeting point in London or wherever it was, meet all these guys in their cars and then go on a convoy to the middle of nowhere, go into a warehouse and have these illegal warehouse parties until dawn. I got caught up in all of that, and that\u2019s where my love for electronic music came from. I\u2019ve always listened to a lot of house music, going all the way up to the present.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of what he listens to now, he\u2019s always got a mix or podcast going on in the background. His musical tastes are also pivotal when it comes to soundtracking his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe music I play in terms of stuff you hear on Instagram, it is quite Black music, I suppose. It kind of makes people question their culture and identity and where they\u2019re from. A lot of the music I play has very prominent African drums, chants, or if it hasn\u2019t got chants, maybe spoken word poetry. Just trying to provoke some sort of feeling. But at the same time, it\u2019s very universal as well. It\u2019s not just<\/em> Black music; anyone can listen to it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also asked him about trends he\u2019s paying attention to at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously, for me, the NFT thing is huge. I do think it’s probably going to be here to stay. You’re seeing a lot of these big auction houses (you know, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips) really getting into the whole digital space and the digital NFT auction thing. It seems like everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to NFTs, he\u2019s very interested in the Metaverse and virtual reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile I suppose it\u2019s difficult to predict what will happen because things are moving so fast in the digital world, I do think we\u2019re in a digital renaissance at the moment, which is so cool. I do think the Metaverse thing is going to be huge, where the virtual economy will become as important as the physical economy. You\u2019ll get companies starting to develop strategies to get themselves into the digital world and the whole virtual reality thing. I reckon there\u2019s going to be huge amounts of money and jobs in it in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s got a bunch of exciting projects in the pipeline, including a jewelry collaboration with England-based EROTIKK, an NFT partnership with a record label to honor an acid house legend, a possible London exhibition, as well as a potential public art project with a development in Miami that stemmed from his collaboration with ARTECHOUSE, which he\u2019s really appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a dream to work with the guys at ARTECHOUSE; it’s a really close-knit bunch of people, kind of a bit like a family, which makes it a lot more personal. It was very helpful. The production team were brilliant, you know, Riki, Simon, Gil…those guys are all at the top of their game; you kind of give them an idea, and they take it back and bring it from level one to level five. So yeah, it was really cool working with those guys and seeing what’s possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a lot of work bringing A\u1e63\u1eb9: Afro Frequencies <\/em>to life, but the result has been very impactful so far thanks to the team\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was quite a short deadline, but we worked our asses off for two or three months trying to pull the whole thing together. A lot of late nights going back and forth, sending files, changing files, doing lots of different things, but I\u2019m pleased with the outcome,\u201d he told us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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