Professor David Frazer, Painting Department, Fine Arts Division, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has taught at RISD since 1978. He has his BFA from RISD 1970 in painting and his MA in painting from University of New Mexico (UNM) 1976.
In 1969-70 as an undergraduate, he was chosen to participate in the RISD European Honors Program (EHP) Rome, Italy. During that year he travelled primarily in Italy and Holland. His early interest in Flemish painting was then heavily influenced by the frescos of Giotto in Padua and particularly the frescos of Piero della Francesca, Arezzo. Those colors and the combination of realism and abstraction still influence his aesthetic.
He was appointed as Chief Critic to the RISD Rome Program, the first alumni of that program to become its’ Chief Critic and professor in residence 1995-98. He continued to return to Rome and teach summer courses in painting and drawing at the Palazzetto Cenci Roma for the next eight years.
In 1989 he did sponsored research at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine arts in Hangzhou, China, now the China Academy of Art (CAA). After his years in Italy he has been invited to China for shows and lectures in Hangzhou, Xi’an, and Shenyang. Recent museum exhibitions in Hangzhou 2017 and Jinan 2017, group exhibitions in Beijing, Urumqi, Karamay 2017, Urumqi, Hami, and Beijing 2018, and Xi’an and Chengdu 2019.
