Today we’d like to introduce you to Vince Fraser.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Well, I’ve been in the creative industry for 30 years now, originally started out studying Interior Design in London, and went on to work as an Exhibition designer doing work for IBM, Apple, Intel and Mercedes. Then worked for Gensler Architects and Interior Designers which is a US-based company doing corporate fit outs but got totally bored with it and needed something more creative. To wet my appetite before changing direction and moving into digital illustration. It took me a while to realize that Interior Design wasn’t for me but it was the right decision, I believe. So I see myself now as a “creator” as opposed to an artist or a designer having a very multi-disciplinary background. I don’t like to be pigeonholed 🙂 My current work consists of video production, VFX, digital illustration, Immersive environments, Graphic Design and animation just to name a few.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being a black creative working for yourself is never easy if I’m honest. Back in the early days when I worked as a freelancer, it was extremely different to get work even if you had agents. As an illustrator, it was vital to have an agent if you wanted to pitch for the bigger advertising and branding jobs. Although having an agent didn’t always bring you to work as there were many other artists on the roster sometimes pitching for the same jobs. Things have changed for the better nowadays, with the emergence of social media and the internet allowing creatives to showcase their work to a broader audience. It also means cutting out the middleman and being able to benefit from your work with higher profits. NFT’s and blockchain technology has now changed the game even further, with the monetization of digital assets.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Up until five years ago, I worked for myself as a commercial illustrator working on various projects from editorial features/ front cover art, branding design, Key art for advertising agencies and poster art for Film Festivals. Then I became bored with what I was doing after doing it for 20 years and wanted to learn something new and fresh, so I decided to focus on personal work which influenced my background, culture and who I was as a person. The genre of art I create is called AFRO SURREALISM but it also crosses over to other genres like AFRO FUTURISM. My work explores the developing intersection of the African Diaspora culture with technology – by linking the futuristic aesthetic into a new cosmic and legendary perspective, where the alienated become extraterrestrial.
I touch on various topics including past and present historical references relating to Africa and black culture where the mystical coexist with the mundane. A lot of my work creates surreal experiences through the clever use of new media and technology including Augmented / Mixed reality and more recently generative art. My mission is to explore the black experience and refining what it is to be black today in a futuristic context. This powerful storytelling medium merges digital content with the real physical world enabling me to deliver unique out of this world realities. Through experimentation, I have developed my own distinctive and innovative style allowing the viewer to imagine the future and alternative realities through a black cultural lens.
My methodology consists of cleverly thought-out dreamy sequences, uncanny incidents combined with bizarre scenarios through the subconscious mind. I believe what sets me apart from everyone else in my unique vision and aesthetic as a creator bridging music/film/design and visual art whilst infusing it with afroccenticity but doing it in a way where I’m referring to things back in the past, living in the present but also pointing towards the future. It’s refreshing, innovative, revolutionary and very current.
“I like to tell stories combining sound and visual from a very unique perspective.” For me, it’s a tool of empowerment and a sense of escapism – deconstructing his own identity whilst at the same time a method of self-liberation / self-healing – using the imagination to transcend circumstances.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Well, my work bridges Art + Technology so I’m always looking out to see what the next big thing will be in terms of how technology is affecting the art world so I’m constantly learning new tools and programs. Currently, I’m obsessed with Artificial Intelligence and how it’s changing the way we work as creatives. It’s an exciting time to be alive 🙂 ….Ai will soon take over the world.
I will keep doing me and see where it goes – evolution is key to infinite possibilities in the future.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/vincefraser
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/vincefraserillustration
- Twitter: @vince_fraser
- Other: www.dripbook.com/vincefraser
