Scottsdale Art + Design Fair

Pazo Fine Art is excited to announce its participation in the inaugural Scottsdale Art + Design Fair, taking place from March 20–23, 2025, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The gallery’s booth will feature a curated selection of historically significant works by the prolific yet under-recognized American artist Dorothy Fratt (1923–2017), highlighting her pioneering contributions to abstraction across a variety of mediums and time periods.

Although often linked to the Color Field and Abstract Expressionist movements, Fratt’s work transcends conventional labels. Her innovative use of color and form culminated in a unique and prolific body of art that captures landscape, atmosphere, gesture, and mood in a distinctly personal way. By merging the principles of Color Field painting with the vibrant and ever-changing desert landscape of Arizona, Fratt created bold, luminous compositions that invite deep reflection. While her canvases may appear minimalist at first glance, defined by dominant hues, they are subtly layered with gestural marks that reward close inspection. Unlike the expansive quality often associated with Color Field painting, Fratt’s work thrives on the dynamic tension between open color fields and the meticulous, expressive forms that encircle them.

Fratt’s artistic journey began early in her native Washington, D.C., where she garnered early recognition at the age of fifteen, winning first place in a prestigious exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She received numerous scholarships to further her studies under the guidance of esteemed mentors, including cubist painter Karl Knaths and landscape and figure painter Nicolai S. Cikovsky. In the 1950s, Fratt became associated with the Washington Color School before forging her own distinctive style following her relocation to Arizona in 1958. Her profound connection to the Southwest and the transformative quality of the desert light profoundly shaped her art, resulting in a unique visual language deeply rooted in the region’s rich landscapes.

Fratt’s artistic legacy was recently celebrated in a retrospective at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), which was accompanied by her first monograph, co-published by SMoCA and Radius Books.