Issuu

Misty Morning on the Forgotten Highway (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 1058 x 1308 x 50 mm

Misty Barn (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 1058 x 1308 x 50 mm

Orinoco Driveway II (2014)

acrylic on linen, frame: 920 x 1120 x 52 mm

McCallum Aggregate (2015)

acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 670 x 53 mm

St John’s Presbyterian Omata (2015)

acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 670 x 53 mm

Another Stop on the Forgotten Highway (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 523 x 670 x 53 mm

Near Tataraimaka, Taranaki (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 670 x 53 mm

Hawkes Bay Lane (2014)

acrylic on linen, frame: 520 x 670 x 52 mm

Vineyard Track (2015)

acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 672 x 52 mm

Rapids Jet (2015)

acrylic on canvas, frame: 582 x 733 x 55 mm

Dark Track (2014)

acrylic on canvas, frame: 520 x 670 x 52 mm

Somewhere on the Surf Highway, Taranaki (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 620 x 53 mm

12 Gate and Track (2014) acrylic on canvas, frame: 473 x 571 x 54 mm

Limestone Road Kawhia (2015)

acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 620 x 53 mm

Orinoco Driveway (2014)

acrylic on linen, frame: 520 x 670 x 52 mm

Near 8 Mile Junction (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 620 x 53 mm

Dusk Near Strathmore (2015) acrylic on canvas, frame: 522 x 620 x 53 mm

Two Stumps (2015)

acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 1800 x 2600 x 32 mm

Early Morning, Freeman’s Bay (2015) gouache on paper, frame: 447 x 505 x 53 mm

Between Rotorua and Taupo (2015) gouache on paper, frame: 447 x 505 x 27 mm

Country Avenue (2014) gouache on paper, frame: 451 x 505 x 28 mm

Second Haumoana Driveway (2014) gouache on paper, frame: 452 x 505 x 28 mm

Rapids Jet (2015) gouache on paper, frame: 451 x 505 x 28 mm

23 Private Driveway (2014) gouache on paper, frame: 451 x 505 x 28 mm

Gate and Track (2014)

gouache on paper, frame: 452 x 505 x 28 mm

Leafy Lane (2014)

gouache on paper, frame: 451 x 505 x 28 mm

Hawkes Bay Lane (2014) gouache on paper, frame: 451 x 505 x 28 mm

Private Driveway - Hawkes Bay (2014) gouache on paper, frame: 451 x 505 x 28 mm

Untitled (Stumps) (1994) graphite on paper, frame: 675 x 767 x 24 mm

Orinoco Driveway (2014) gouache on paper, frame: 452 x 505 x 29 mm

Described recently by T.J. McNamara in the New Zealand Herald as New Zealand’s ‘Picasso,’ Dick Frizzell has demonstrated time and again a stylistic virtuosity that is masterful, unique, astonishingly diverse and unparalleled in New Zealand art.

Up the Road admirably demonstrates Frizzell’s artistic processes in two substantial suites of co-joined works of gouache on paper and acrylic on canvas. The gouaches are exquisitely delivered with stroke by stroke certainty and profound sense of place. The increased scale and textural qualities of the canvas paintings evidence how he then takes a work up in scale and broadens further the visual information and result.

“Each work has a road in the middle going into the distance in perspective. Some drive straight to the horizon while others curve away out of sight. They may be tar sealed or no more than rutted tracks. Many are rural driveways. Some pass through avenues of trees or go over a hill. They all pose the question: “Where does that lead to?” The roads, trees and light are painted with extraordinary skill” and “are completely successful. The sureness of Frizzell’s hand is seen in his firm touch in everything from fence posts to a variety of trees and the texture of road surfaces. Every touch of paint is decisive and the quality is absolutely even.” (1)

Frizzell has a visual language that is unmistakeably his own. Each work declares and hides information in ways that collectively constitute his painterly style. We experience visual rhythms in every work, see portions of buildings, eschew signs, fences, gates that are always open, trees alone in the landscape and landscapes made by trees.

This powerful, and let it also be stated, beautiful exhibition is extended further with three major works - Orinoco Driveway II (2014), Misty Morning on the Forgotten Highway (2015), Misty Barn (2015) - adding compellingly different tones, atmospheres and further evidence of Frizzell’s stylistic virtuosity. There is also an immense painting of two tree stumps and the drawing that was the source. This subject has occurred repeatedly through Frizzell’s career and constitutes one of the loaded narrative symbols of New Zealand art about our rural environment and its use.

1. T.J. McNamara, “On the Long and Winding Road,” New Zealand Herald, April 11, 2015.

DICK FRIZZELL

b. 1943, lives Auckland

“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

Still Life with Red Jug (2009)

EDUCATION

DICK FRIZZELL

b. 1943, lives Auckland

1964 Ilam Art School, Canterbury, New Zealand

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015 Up the Road, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Up the Road, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

When Tom and Elizabeth Took the Farm, Waikato Museum, Hamilton

2014 Up the Road, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington

2013 The Dance of the Hooligans, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

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

1989

Images for Lovers, Works on Paper Gallery, Auckland

Lithographs, Muka Studio and Regent Hotel, Auckland

1987 Janne Land Gallery, Wellington

1986 Heads On, Denis Cohn Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2014 Spring Catalogue, milford galleries queenstown

Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

ART101: A Beginner’s Guide, Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga

Its Not Dry Yet, Chambers@241, Christchurch

The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

2013 Spring Catalogue, milford galleries queenstown

Parallel, Milford Galleries Dunedin

New Works, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Editions, Milford Galleries Dunedin

New Works Group Show, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2012 Spring Catalogue, milford galleries Queenstown

New Year, New Works, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

Painting the Hunt, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington

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 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

2006

Works on Paper, Milford Galleries Dunedin

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, 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

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

2002 Little, Paul, Being Dick Frizzell, Audi Magazine, December 2002, pp52-57

2002 Keith, Hamish, Out of Africa, Sunday Star Times, Sept 29,2002

1999 Caughey, E. & John Gow, Contemporary New Zealand Art 2, David Bateman Ltd, Auckland, 1999, p60

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

1996 Dunn, Michael, Contemporary Painting in New Zealand, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996, p6467

1996 O’Brien, Gregory, Lands and Deeds: Profiles of Contemporary New Zealand Painters, Godwit, Auckland, 1996, p36-47,209

1993 Binney , D.H., Trust myself not to go wrong: Dick Frizzell’s Tiki show, Art New Zealand, 66, Autumn 1993, p70-73,99

1993 Leonard, Robert & John McCormack, Beyond the Pale: Dick Frizzell’s indigenuity, Art and Asia Pacific, June 1993, p36-41

1993 Mita, Merata, Peter Shand talks to Ngahuia Te Awekotuku; Dick Frizzell interviewed by Paul Casserly, Tiki’s Off, Stamp, December/January, 1993

1990 McAloon, William, Situation & Style: Vestiges of Regionalism in Recent New Zealand Art, Jonathan Jensen Gallery, Christchurch, 1990

1988 Binney, D.H., Landscape reassessed: some Auckland artists, Art New Zealand, 48, Spring 1988, p72-74

1985 Binney, D.H., Testing Reality the Paintings of Dick Frizzell, Art New Zealand, 37, Summer 1985, p26-31

1980 Barr, Jim & Mary, Contemporary New Zealand Painters, Vol 1, Alister Taylor, Martinborough, 1980, p80-85

Egyptian Style Tiki (1998)