About The Artist

Luke Frazier began sculpting and drawing at a young age, encouraged by his creative father, Jesse. The two embarked upon many memorable road trips into the deserts of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, where they treasure-hunted for arrowheads, interesting stones, shed antlers, and lost artifacts. Luke vividly recalls camping under the stars, huddling by campfires, and listening to his father’s stories of days gone by.

 

 LUKE WITH HIS FATHER JESSE, 2000:

The middle-child in a combined family of 16 siblings, Luke and his brothers hunted, fished, and trapped to provide for the household. Those early forays outdoors made lasting impressions and taught valuable lessons about responsibility, the value of hard work, and the bond of family.

 

 

In the way storytellers engage and hold audiences’ attention with descriptive language and creative mental images, Luke’s paintings inspire viewers’ imaginations by hinting at messages visually and emotionally. A keen observer, Luke immerses himself in his surroundings and his rugged and mature style skillfully captures the anatomy and presence of the subjects he paints. Preferring early morning or evening light, Luke creates scenes from his memories and experiences in the woods, mountains, and on the water. His artistic style leans towards impressionistic or representational. “I try to be as accurate as possible with my drawings of anatomies, and creative with my compositions,” he said recently in his studio.

 

 

An avid sportsman, Luke has traveled from Alaska to Africa. His passions include raising and training bird dogs, adventures hunting and fishing, and photographing wildlife in their natural habitat. All of these things have fortified his vision in what he creates.  

 

 
Luke loves to research his subjects and feels much can be learned from the past. “Art and history go hand-in-hand,” he said. “Artists have always documented the times in which they lived. Each artist has a voice, a different point of view of the world. We appreciate the details history provides and we soak those details up, learning how our forefathers solved their questions with the tools they had. Spending time at museums, studying the masters, visiting living artists ~ learning all you can ~ is a huge and very enjoyable part of the process.” 
 


Luke received his formal art training at Utah State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in painting and a Master of Fine Art degree in illustration.

“I want to offer up the natural world from a different point of view, whether that be bombastic, nostalgic, or subtle. I feel that a well-executed work of art should have emotional power – an element that grabs the viewer by the eyeballs, and punches them in the ear. I want to tell a story with my work, not by laying it all out there for the viewer, but rather by leaving questions unanswered. I am in awe of the beauty in nature, from the grandiose, to the smallest exquisite detail ~ the handiwork of ‘The Almighty.’”

 


Frazier admires these and many more master artist; Charlie Russell, Winslow Homer, Herbert “Buck” Dunton, Frederick Remington, Frank Tenny Johnson, Heinrich Von Zügel, Carl Rungius, Phillip Goodwin, N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Henry Farny, Tom Lovell, John Clymer, Edmund Henry Osthaus, Ogden Pleissner, Howard Terpning, Robert Abbett and Bob Kuhn. Frazier appreciates the power and strength of draftsmanship, drawing, compositions and storyline permeating their work. “They’re masters of telling a story.”

Frazier is humbled to show his paintings at these prestigious museums. The National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming; the Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, California; the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Briscoe Museum, San Antonio, Texas; The Clymer Museum, Ellensburg, Washington; the Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody Wyoming; the Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; the C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana; the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery Alabama.

Frazier's work has often been compared to that of Carl Rungius and Bob Kuhn, noted masters of wildlife art. In a recent article in Wildlife Art, Bill Kerr, cofounder of the National Museum of Wildlife Art and a personal collector of Frazier's work, stated, "What impresses me about Luke Frazier is his potential, he's talented, he's dedicated, his work reminds me of some kind of an exotic combination of Kuhn's modernism and the classic palette of the academicians." John Geraghty, a Frazier collector and board member of the Autry Museum of the American West said, "It's exciting when young artists emerge who know their material yet do not feel threatened by taking suggestions from the masters. You can tell by the way they work how serious they are, and you can see the continuing improvement in Luke's work, especially in his design. He is influenced by other greats like Kuhn and Carl Rungius, but at the same time he's his own man."

 

 PAINTING A CLIENT'S RANCH, 2000:


Frazier's work has been included in the book Leading the West, written by Don Hagerty, in conjunction with Southwest Art magazine, and published by Northland Press in 1997. The book profiles 100 of the best living painters and sculptors working today. In 2007 Frazier was included in the new book The Fine Art of Angling, and his work "The Tillamook Creel" adorned the cover. Earlier in 2007, Frazier was chosen to be the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival featured artist - and then in 2010 Frazier was honored to be the featured artist for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, in Charleston South Carolina. He has been profiled in Art of the West, Wildlife Art, Western Art & Architecture, Fibonacci, Big Sky Journal and Southwest Art. His paintings frequently appear in Field & Stream, Gray's Sporting Journal, and the Sporting Classics magazines.

He recently received the Artist Choice award and the Patrons Choice award at the 2011 Briscoe Museums, "Night of Artists Show.” He also received the Founders Favorite Award at the Art for the Parks competition in 2002 and the Wildlife Art Award in 1994, 1996, and 1997.

 

AN EARLY FAMILY PHOTO, 1999: