Despite being one of Aotearoa's most celebrated artists, Dick Frizzell (b.1943, Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau) has often slipped through the nets of traditional critical definition. In fact, the success of his career is, in part, due to the dramatic diversions he has made between different styles and genres.
Frizzell studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury in the 1960s. Before becoming a full-time painter in 1995, Frizzell worked in advertising as an animator, commercial artist and illustrator, and as a result has no qualms about blurring categories, with paintings often a pastiche of images drawing on modern art and graphic design.
Frizzell’s work has always been characterised by a highly skilled handling of paint and an endlessly inventive range of subject matter and styles: faux-naive New Zealand landscapes, figurative still-life, comic book characters, and witty parodies of modernist abstraction. His taste is conveniently broad, and he has a penchant for fondly remembered and well-worn clichés. His work also portrays a sense of exuberance, ironic humour, and nostalgia. An anti-traditionalist, Frizzell makes a deliberate effort to subvert the hierarchies of 'high' and 'low' art - poking fun the existential angst of much New Zealand painting in the art culture of his youth.
Frizzell’s work is held in public collections, including Christchurch Art Gallery, The Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery and Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. Frizzell was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours. Exhibition highlights include the major travelling retrospective Dick Frizzell: Portrait of a Serious Artiste (1997) and his residency in Antarctica as part of the Invitational Artist Programme (2005). Frizzell has also published numerous books including the monograph Dick Frizzell: The Painter (2009); It’s All About the Image (2011); and Me, According to the History of Art (2020).
Although primarily a painter, Frizzell also produces an extensive range of works on paper including lithographs and screen prints.
EDUCATION
1964
Ilam School of Fine Arts, Canterbury University, Christchurch
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Vacant Posession, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2021
Return to Order, Page Galleries, Pōneke Wellington
2020
Ceci N'est Pas 2021, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2017
Something to Behold!, Page Blackie Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
2016
Escape from Salvation Part III: The Dick Frizzell Group Show, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Selected Works, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2015
Paper Trail, Page Blackie Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
Artist's Proof, MTG Hawke's Bay, Napier
When Tom and Elizabeth Took the Farm, Waikato Museum, Hamilton
2015
Up the Road, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2014
Down the Road, Page Blackie Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
2013
The Dance of Hooligans, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Dick Frizzell Exhibition, Old Government House, University of Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2012
Painting the Hunt, Page Blackie Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
Grand Central, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2011
Rugby, Rhyming and Here, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Selected Paintings 1981-2009, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2010
The Gloves are Off, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Works on Paper, Milford Galleries, Dunedin
2009
Talking to Things, Page Blackie Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
Treasures from a Skull Cave, Black Barn Art Gallery, Hawke's Bay
2008
Walking Back to Happiness, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2006
An Event of One: Dick Frizzell in Antartica, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2004
The Pumpkin is a Red Herring, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2003
Please Keep Us Safe While We Sleep by the Fire, Hawke's Bay Art Museum, Napier
2002
Pleased to Remember, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
What is This, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
2001
Welcome to Sunny Hawke's Bay, Gow Langsford Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2000
Home Truths, Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
1999
Exhibition of Paintings, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
1998
Patched Up, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
What I am (The Junk Mail Narratives), Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1997
Dick Frizzell: Portrait of a Serious Artiste, City Gallery Wellington, Auckland Art Gallery, and Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Vanity, Vanity, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Popova to Remuera, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
Summer Muster, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
Construction from Freedom, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Lost and Found, Lesley Kriesler Gallery, New Plymouth
1996
Line and Point, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Ambitious Objects, Andrew Jensen Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
1995
P.O.P. Past on Paper, Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
Hoi Te Toi Te, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1994
No Figure Necessary, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
European Descendant, Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
1993
Hook, Line, and Sinker, Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
The Agua Amarga Suite, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1992
South Island Landscapes, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Tiki: Works on Paper, Salamander Gallery, Arts Centre, Christchurch
Tiki, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1991
What's the Big Idea?, Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
South Island Landscapes, CSA Gallery, Christchurch
1990
Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
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
Janne Land Gallery, Pōneke Wellington
1987
Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1986
Heads On, Denis Cohn Gallery, Auckland
1985
Eh! Easy, Hard, Impossible, Carnegie Gallery, Dunedin
1984
Escape from Salvation, RKS Gallery, Auckland
Still Lives, Denis Cohn Gallery, Auckland
Headlines, RKS Gallery, Auckland
1983
Spring Show, Louise Beale Gallery, Auckland
1982
Still Lives, Louise Beale Gallery, Wellington
1981
Everybodies Business, RKS Art, Auckland, and Louise Beale Gallery, Wellington
1980
Home is Where the Art is, RKS Art, Auckland, and Louise Beale Gallery, Wellington
1979
Illustrations of America (The Dancing Chicken Show), RKS Art, Auckland, Elva Bett Gallery, Wellington, and Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
1977
Putting it all on the Lion, Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland
1976
A-fish-ial Exhibition, Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
Populate, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch
2012
New Year, New Works, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2006
Tiki Tour, Whangarei Art Museum, Whangarei
2004
Telecom Prospect: New Art New Zealand, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
2001-2002
The Cartoon Show, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland
2001
Screens, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1998
Landscapes, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Spring Exhibition, Anderson Park Gallery, Timaru
Dream Collectors, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland
1997
Figurative Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1996
Design Love Story, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin
Visa Gold Awards, New Gallery, Auckland
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, Wellington
H2O, Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt
Gaugain Tribute, RKS Gallery, Auckland
Visa Gold Awards, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington
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
Visa Gold Awards, 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, The 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
1991
Wild West Show, Lopdell House Gallery, Auckland
Art and Organised Labour, Touring Show