He’s made ridiculously awesome art both on canvas and in MS Paint, smeared his face with Vegemite, and exhibited all over town – all that plus his name reminds us of Lord of the Rings. He’s Rohan Fraser, and his work is cooler than if LL Cool J went to the Arctic and froze solid. We sat down for a chat with Rohan and found out about his schizophrenic style and how he keeps momentum as an artist in Adelaide. Also, there was a period where we talked about tentacle rape for some reason.

So tell me your history.
Well I’ve always drawn since kindergarten. But I was really interested in illustration when I was younger – comics and stuff like that – and I didn’t really distinguish between ‘commercial illustration’ and ‘art’. I didn’t make that distinction. So when I went to art school, suddenly I was aware of the distinction and it was quite a shock really – suddenly I had to figure out where my mind was.

Either as someone who keeps art to themselves or does it for a living.
Yeah, and even in which context I wanted to do it for a living. To put it on a gallery wall, for instance, or illustrate for a magazine – and I still don’t really know. So I’ll just keep drawing.

But you did well at school.
Yeah, I did the art school thing, then got a few exhibitions. And I’m still doing shows. So I guess it’s all going according to plan.

And what is the overarching plan at the moment?
I don’t really have a grand plan really, no. I’m not good at planning ahead of this year.

You’re studying animation at the moment, is that something you’d like to get deeper into?
Possibly. Initially, I was thinking I could maybe get a stable job out of it. But it’s really an all-consuming industry. So now it seems more likely that I’ll just incorporate it into my other artistic work.

When you’ve had shows, do you manage to sell well?
Yeah! My first solo show was pretty successful.

How does it go with painting in oils, which can be a really expensive exercise?
I had a deal with my gallery owner that I was showing with, where they covered my expenses and took that figure out of my final cheque for works sold. [Confidential disclosure of final cost of materials]

Shiiiiiiiiiii-yit.
That’s after gallery commission, and paying back materials and all that stuff. But it’s best not to think about that kind of thing.

Yeah, well. How do you recoup costs like that if you’re not getting funded?
Well, the last show I was working on board quite a lot. That was a big cost-cutting thing, because it went from like a 200 dollar canvas to a 20 dollar board. But I wouldn’t do that necessarily if I had the choice. I’ve got another show coming up with 139, and we’re going to work out a similar plan to last time.

I keep getting these offers to exhibit, and it’s hard to say no. For a while when I was doing animation, I was thinking about taking a hiatus from art – but it kind of won’t let me. I made the distinction between commercial animation and animation for art, because my intention was to get into the commercial side of animation – which is doing ads, or little bits and pieces here and there. Which is where you have to start to with animation to make an income. And then there’s the potential to incorporate it directly into my artwork. But at the moment I’m just studying it, which is all I’m going to commit to.

Tell me a bit about the ‘oil man’ character in your paintings, with the gunk all over his face.
I guess he’s generally the anti-hero. He’s a figure I’ve found that so many people respond and possibly relate to, because he possibly represents the seedier parts of all of us. And he kind of came from these universal feelings of guilt and repression and stuff like that. I tried to get all those kind of feelings represented in one character.

And you wound up smearing Vegemite on your face.
Yeah, that was the first time that I kind of conceived of doing that character, in the sketches he was smeared in this ambiguous gunk. So I was doing a shoot with my friend and she was taking photos of me dressed in the whole get-up – and I was running around, trying to think of a way to find this weird gunk that wouldn’t be detrimental to my health. And Vegemite wasn’t the best choice! Because it kind of stung, and it was really gross. But you know, it did the job because the shots came out really well and the paintings went from there.

Plus Vegemite’s got to be good for the skin.
Maybe! It’s good for ulcers. Anyway, I was pretty surprised by how many people responded positively to that character.

How does moving into the commercial art world affect the
subjects that you choose in painting? It doesn’t really affect them a great deal, but… That’s a tricky question. I suppose moving to illustration or something you’re obviously going to have other people’s ideas involved in the process quite often. But I think the most successful illustrators and graphic artists manage to maintain their own aesthetic in their work, and they can get away with taking control with any one project. Again, it’s hard to make the distinction – because even in fine art, you’re working for an audience; otherwise you might as well keep everything at home. (the two talk about tentacle rape for some time) Yeah I guess that even in fine art, when you get in galleries and stuff – I guess there are always people with kind of outside influences, but ultimately the decision of what to omit lies with you, the individual. So I guess it’s a personal choice. Sometimes I feel inclined towards making more confronting work, and then other times I make a more personal choice to ‘go easy’ on it. Because sometimes you don’t want to alienate certain people that could otherwise appreciate the work.

Well, perhaps before you’re established it’s smart to work for a broader audience – and then once you’ve ‘made it’ you can get crazy.
Maybe. And that’s probably at the back of a few artists’ minds. I’m quite conscious of the audience and sometimes it does make you feel conflicted inside, but you just have to deal with that. Some days you feel very sober about the whole thing, and other days you just want to say ‘fuck you all!’ and paint giant cocks. You know?

Tell me about that MS Paint masterpiece you produced.
What was it like working with just one level of undo? It was not frustrating at all. It was almost meditative. It was really nice!

And you just used the ‘pencil’ tool?
Generally just that and the ‘fill’ bucket.

What possessed you to work in MS Paint?
What possesses me to work in any medium – just some brief flash of inspiration or insanity. It would have taken a day or two straight to finish. I’ve got my Wacom tablet, so that makes it doable.

I think it might be the finest work ever produced in MS Paint. I’m giving you that award right now. Congratulations.
Oh, wow, thanks. That’s a bold statement.

Tell me about the studio you work in.
It’s in St Peters on Payneham road, and it’s called twinBEE. It’s a bunch of really talented artists in a really nice environment. It’s really messy – not one of these pristine studios, you can get shit on the floor and the wall. It’s totally open, and we’re just partitioned from each other by our own refuse, really.

Where to this year?
Finish the animation course I’m doing, and keep drawing. I’ve been working on paper more recently, which has just lodged some more ideas and thoughts in my head.

And it’s a bit faster than painting.
Yeah, and there’s a bit more room for accident.

And the year after this year?
Maybe that’s when I think about interstate. Cause I’ll have enough images to whore myself out to different galleries, and maybe I’ll have that confidence by then.

One last thing that just sprang to mind: Do you ever feel artistically compromised when you have a certain amount of paintings you know you have to produce for a show, but only a limited amount of ideas? Sometimes I just think about dropping all my obligations and working slowly for a year – at my own pace. But when I made that decision to do that, I got massively depressed! I felt like when the momentum was gone, everything seemed hopeless. It’s kind of necessary to keep moving. Like a shark.

Rohan’s upcoming exhibition is in August at Gallery 139. We promise it will be tremendous.