West Fraser has been a major influence on the artistic scene of Charleston and the South since his return to the area in 1988. After Hurricane Hugo destroyed his studio he made the pivot fully to working in oil. During this shift, he also chose to take his painting gear and get outside. This began over three decades of plein air painting, culminating in the publishing of his second volume of artwork by the University of South Carolina Press, Painting the Southern Coast. Not only does this collection document his work from all along the east coast of South Carolina, Georgia and North Florida, but it is a volume of his transition from strictly plein air to more formal studio pieces.

After spending thirty plus years mucking through pluff mudd, puttering along our creeks and rivers, and marching along the coast his skill in capturing the lowcountry is unsurpassed. Along with his incredible rooftops and singular street scenes, West Fraser represents all that is good in representational art of the south.