DICK FRIZZELL

Grand Central (2012) oil on linen, stretcher: 1703 x 2402 x 35 mm

Country Corner (2012) oil on linen, stretcher: 803 x 1051 x 35 mm

Sunlit Track (2012) oil on linen, stretcher: 802 x 1051 x 35 mm

Shaded Track (2012)

oil on linen, stretcher: 803 x 1002 x 35 mm

The Road West from Lawrence (2012) oil on linen, stretcher: 1502 x 3000 x 35 mm

The Honey Shoppe (2012)

oil on linen, stretcher: 750 x 1052 x 35 mm

Hay Rack (2012) oil on linen, stretcher: 450 x 550 x 35 mm

Abandoned Business (2012) oil on linen, stretcher: 452 x 550 x 35 mm

Celebrating both the grand and the intimate, Dick Frizzell’s new works are reminiscent of the time-honoured road trip. Small works reveal secret spots discovered en route and expansive vistas show lands yet to be explored.

The title work of the show, Grand Central, lays out folded hills and hazy mountains for our contemplation; Frizzell’s brushwork shimmers across the surface of the canvas. We stand on top of the ridge, drawn down into the valley by farm fences, powerlines and the metal road. As well as functioning as strong compositional devices, more importantly these speak to the New Zealand rural vernacular that Frizzell has visited over and again. The foregrounded hills are figured with sheep tracks and tractor furrows, but the backdrop to this recognisable, man-made country is an eroded, untamed massif, full of stark grandeur.

The paintings possess a real sense of distances travelled, often due to the repeated motif of roads and paths. Seen from what appears to be the driver’s seat, the familiarity of Frizzell’s scenes make it easy for us to imagine what lies beyond the hill or around the bend. In Shaded Track, he uses literal road markers and tyre tracks to enhance the picture in our mind’s eye. The tiny, golden treetop seen just over the rise, and the low wash of light on the cutting, draw the gaze and allow us to place the scene temporally as well as physically.

Frizzell’s ability to make the ordinary worthy of consideration is something seen throughout his practice: signs advertising apples, wheelbarrows, and tinned fish have all been immortalised in oils by the artist. The Honey Shoppe is the type of small country shop that can be found in any part of the country, although those familiar with the road south out of Dunedin will recognise it instantly. Frizzell presents it honestly, complete with 44gallon drums, hand-lettered sign and mock-Tudor spelling. He does not mock or denigrate its simplicity, but celebrates its continued existence.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

DICK FRIZZELL

b. 1943, lives Auckland

StillLifewithFrenchBread(1987)

“It was while working in the environment of commercial advertising that Frizzell began to pluck familiar objects from their usual context and turn them into arresting images. Several products that were ‘household’ names to New Zealanders in the late 1970’s became icons in Frizzell’s hands. From sources as varied as canned fish wrappers, corner shop signage and junk mail, he turned images into paintings, giving titles that introduced unexpected associations.”(1)

Frizzell’s work has often had “an eclectic quality, brought about by the variety of styles he has borrowed, pastiched or commented on in his art. In much of his imagery, no line is drawn between low art sources such as comic book illustrations or packaging and the high art references with which his painting is freely sprinkled.”(2)

Prints and paintings "inspired by comics, advertising trademarks, Maori iconography and rural road signs have flowed out of him for more than four decades, during which time Frizzell has enlivened the local art world with his wit. His is a world in which no image is too sacred or too banal." (3)

Born in Auckland in 1943, Dick Frizzell studied at the Canterbury School of Fine Arts between 1960 and 1963. He has an art practice that spans over 50 years. His works are held in all major public, corporate and private collections in New Zealand. He has also completed a number of major commissions including works for Sky City Casino (Auckland) and the painting of an Ansett New Zealand aeroplane for Starship Children's Hospital. In 1997 a retrospective exhibition of his work, Dick Frizzell: Portrait of a Serious Artiste, was toured to major national institutions. In 2009 his book, Dick Frizzell: The Painter, was published.

1. Elizabeth Caughey & John Gow, Contemporary New Zealand Art 2, 1999

2. Michael Dunn, Contemporary Painting in New Zealand, 1996

3. Grant Smithies, “Accidental Artist,” Sunday Star Times, September 2008

EDUCATION

DICK FRIZZELL

b. 1943, lives Auckland

1964 Ilam Art School, Canterbury, New Zealand

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS (1986 -)

2012 Grand Central milford galleries queenstown

2011 Selected Paintings 1981 – 2009, milford galleries queenstown

Rugby, Rhyming and Here, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

2010 The Gloves Are Off, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Works on Paper, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2009 Treasures from a Skull Cave, Black Barn Art Gallery, Hawkes Bay

2008 Walking Back to Happiness, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Recent Works on Paper, milford galleries queenstown

2007 Recent Works on Paper, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2006 An Event of One, Dick Frizzell in Antarctica 2005, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

2005

Recent Works on Paper, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2004 The Pumpkin is a Red Herring, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

2003 Please keep us safe while we sleep by the fire, Hawkes Bay Art Museum

2002 Pleased to remember, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

What is this, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

2001 Welcome to Sunny Hawkes Bay, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

2000 Home Truths, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

1999 Exhibition of Paintings, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch

1998 Patched Up, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Wellington

What I Yam - the Junk Mail Narratives, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1997 Dick Frizzell, Portrait of a Serious Artiste, City Gallery Wellington, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin

Vanity Vanity, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Popova to Remuera, John Leech Gallery, Auckland

Summer Muster, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Wellington

Construction from Freedom, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch

Lost and Found, Lesley Kriesler Gallery, New Plymouth

1996 Line and Point, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch

Lesley Kriesler Gallery, New Plymouth

Ambitious Objects, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Wellington

1995 P.O.P. Past on Paper, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

Hoi Te Toi Te, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1994 No Figure Necessary, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

European Descendant, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

1993 Hook, Line and Sinker, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

The Agua Amarga Suite, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Selected Hook, Line and Sinker Works, Lesley Kriesler Gallery, New Plymouth

1992 South Island Landscapes, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

South Island Landscapes, Exhibited at the Carnegie Centre, Dunedin, Tiki, Works on Paper at Salamander Gallery Art Centre, Christchurch, Tiki, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1991 What’s the Big Idea?, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

South Island Landscapes, CSA Gallery, Christchurch

1990 Big Paintings, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Images for Lovers, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

1989 Lithographs, Muka Studio and Regent Hotel, Auckland

Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1987 Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

1986 Heads On, Denis Cohn Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 Spring Catalogue, milford galleries queenstown

The Review, milford galleries queenstown

Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

2011 Spring Catalogue, milford galleries queenstown

Gow Langsford Gallery Spring Catalogue 2011, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Works on Paper, Milford Galleries Dunedin

The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

2010 Summer Show, Milford Galleries Dunedin

John Leech & Gow Langsford Galleries Spring Catalogue, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Bloom, milford galleries queenstown

The Review, milford galleries queenstown

2009 Works on Paper, milford galleries queenstown

2008 Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown

Works on Paper, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2006 Tiki Tour, Whangarei Art Museum, Whangarei

2005 Recent Floral Works, milford galleries queenstown

2004

Telecom Prospect: New Art New Zealand, City Gallery, Wellington

Notable Works – major investment profile works by leading NZ artists, milford galleries queenstown

2001-2002 The Cartoon Show, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland

2001 Screens, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1998 Landscapes, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (with Karl Maughan).

Spring Exhibition, Anderson Park Gallery, Timaru

Dream Collectors, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland

1997 Catalogue Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Catalogue Exhibition, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Figurative Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

1996 Design Love Story, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin

1995

Stop Making Sense, Collaboration with Shane Cotton, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington

Works on Paper, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

The Artistic Process, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth

A Peculiar Practice: 40 New Zealand Painters, Wellington City Art Gallery

H2O, Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt

Gaugain Tribute, RKS Gallery, Auckland

Test Strip Fundraiser Show, Test Strip Gallery, Auckland

Ho Ho Ho, Christmas Group Show, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Wellington,

1994 Landscape Survey, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland.

Hammond, Frizzell, Stevenson, Gregory Flint Gallery, Auckland

The Spectrum Collection, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Finalist, Visa Gold Award, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington

Artist’s Wallpaper, The Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga, Auckland

Artists Fax, CSA Gallery, Christchurch

Christmas Show, FHE Gallery, Auckland, Elvis in Geyserland, Rotorua Art Gallery, Rotorua

1993 Artists Ceramics, Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga, Auckland

Christmas Giving, Artspace Gallery, Auckland

Helping the Recovery, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

1992 Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Big Green, Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt

Real Surreal, CSA Gallery, Christchurch

Cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb, James Wallace Gallery, Wellington

Artiture Show Tour, New Zealand with Russian Constructivist Tiki Rug

1991 Wild West Show, Lopdell House Gallery, Titirangi, Auckland Art and Organised Labour, Touring Show

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2011 Wolfe, Richard and Stephen Robinson, Artists At Work, Penguin Books, London, England

2010 Frizzell, Dick, Dick Frizzell: The Painter, Godwit: Auckland

1997 Allan Smith, Dick Frizzell: Portrait of a Serious Artiste, (catalogue) The City Gallery, Wellington/Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 1997