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."
Paul Fryer studied art briefly at the Leeds College of Art in the 1980s but never did a degree in the subject. In the early 1990s he was instrumental in the creation of the widely acclaimed art-based clubs The Kit Cat Club and Vague. Before focusing on his own art, Fryer designed books for several galleries and projects, as well as working as technical consultant for a number of established contemporary artists. He has also written a book of poetry, ‘Don't Be So...’, which was illustrated by Damien Hirst and published in 2002. He has exhibited in various shows and galleries since 1996, including ‘2001 A Space Oddity’, A22 Gallery, London, 2001; The Courtauld Collection Show, London, 2002; ‘The Ark’, T1+2, London, 2005; ‘New Gothic’, T1+2, London; Tate Britain, London, 2006; ‘Reconstruction No. 1’ and ‘Reconstruction Number 2’, Sudeley Castle, UK, 2006 and 2007, ‘Young & British’, Galerie Jean Gabriel Mitterand, Paris, 2006; ‘Tempest’ (with Mat Collishaw, curated by James Putnam), Venice Biennale, 2007; ‘Avatar Of Sacred Discontent’, T1+2, Port Elliot, UK, 2007. Solo shows include: ‘Carpe Noctum’, Trolley Gallery, London, 2005; ‘Petit Mal’, Masonic Temple, Kirsty Stubbs Gallery, London, 2006; ‘Radiations’, Julius Werner, Berlin, 2006; and ‘Potential And Ground’, Reconstruction and Kirsty Stubbs Gallery, London, 2007; and ‘In Loving Memory’, Guido Costa Projects and Reconstruction, Turin, 2007.
