Author Description

Radiations is the first publication on the work of rising artist Paul Fryer. The relationship between visual art and science is at the heart of Fryer's eccentric but highly engaging body of works: "An artist like P.A. Fryer is as much a throwback to the enlightenment of the 18th century as he is prescient of the new." Fryer's scientific inquiry, his visual awareness of popular cultural icons, combined with a sense of a poetic pieta gives his work a definite sense of the now. This elegant and thoughtfully designed book contains over 30 full colour reproductions including prints, sculptures and installation shots, and an in-depth interview between Fryer, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of London's Serpentine Gallery, and scientist Colin Dancer. Alongside this is a personal and insightful introduction by Fryer's long- term advisor Duncan Ward, and an essay by Amanda Harlech, both of which underline that Fryer's art works on multiple levels, and that it is conscious of its uniqueness and validity: "These works arrive at a time when little art has the tonic to shock and popular culture has seen to the dismantling of the avant-garde and the experimental in all it's sub sects... Paul Fryer senses the storm, and unfurls a kite so that we can connect with it."