Late Artist Andrew Frieder is Remembered at The Good Luck Gallery

Sandra Miska

An artist from Lancaster, CA is being memorialized in his first solo show in Los Angeles.  The works of the late Andrew Frieder are being featured at The Good Luck Gallery in Chinatown until August 29.

Andrew Frieder worked nonstop for decades in the Mojave Desert producing art in a variety of mediums, but it wasn’t until after his death last year at age 55 that he received recognition outside of Lancaster.  This is partly because Frieder himself avoided publicity and it was only after his death that the full range of his output was discovered.

The Good Luck Gallery represents Frieder’s estate and the current exhibit focuses on his mixed-media paintings and drawings.  Frieder’s works depict a range of scenes, including those from classical mythology and the Old Testament.

Says the Good Gallery, “A gentle and subtle coloration of soft pastel and muted earth tones distinguishes the work, which is sometimes scrawled upon with text, and frequently pierced, perforated, sewn, glued and otherwise driven into aesthetic submission, resulting in a strangely harmonious combination of the visceral and the meticulous.”

As a teenager, Frieder spoke fluent French and was a nationally ranked fencer but gave up the sport to focus on art.  Sadly, he struggled with schizophrenia for most of his adult life, and his illness interrupted his art education.  In his darkest hours, he destroyed his entire body of work three times.  Fortunately, he experienced no episodes or hospitalizations throughout the last two decades of his life, which may be due to the positive influence of his own art.

Frieder was also a prolific writer, and his writings touched on a range of topics, including history, religion, politics and his own mental state.

The Good Luck Gallery is located in the heart of the Chinatown arts district.  It is the only gallery in Los Angeles to exclusively highlight self-taught artists.

The Good Luck Gallery will present the works Andrew Frieder until August 29.