Term 3 Week 4: Art Icon

WALT locate and summarise ideas

Art icon

By Phillip Simpson

Dick Frizzell has made an icon of himself...

Dick Frizzell is always on the hunt. He’s keeping his eyes open for the next ‘Frizzell’—a fish-tin label, a kink in a rural road, a cluster of sale signs on a fruit stall. A cultural magpie at large, Frizzell has carved a niche by painting icons of New Zealand life—overlooked motifs that, once identified, instantly become part of what we all recognise as Kiwiana.

Now 69, Frizzell has painted still lifes, pop culture, landscapes, children’s books—a seemingly haphazard collection of media and subjects that he insists has a central theme. By identifying cultural icons from the clutter of our everyday life, Frizzell says his work sparks a relationship with the viewer.

“I like that little flash of recognition. It’s that connection that people want; they want to feel connected. And they want the connection to be personal and real,” he says. “They see some kind of cheerful affirmation of their environment, where they live. They think, ‘Oh yeah, New Zealand’s cool’, and I’m happy with that.”

Frizzell grew up barefoot in Hawke’s Bay, cycling between haunts in Hastings—the swimming pool, the sawmill, out to the river and the picture theatre.

“My father was an engineer at the freezing works and would bring home meat, and take me rabbit shooting in the weekends,” he says. “As I grew up and read Kiwi literature, you begin to realise that you have had this kind of iconic upbringing. I think it puts you in a position where you feel comfortable to comment.”

By the time he left art school at Canterbury University, he and his wife, Jude, had a daughter, so Frizzell began his art career determined to make a living from it. First in advertising, for seven years, then painting. He began with a series of successful exhibitions, painting humorous self-portraits, and everyday objects such as fish-tin labels.

At the age of 44, Frizzell experienced a sort of midlife painter’s block. In desperation, he turned to the New Zealand landscape—in particular, to the scenes of his boyhood. The works he produced over the next four years proved as popular with the public as they were in the art world, “working in effect exactly as I’d hoped they would”, says Frizzell, “helping a new generation re-see their world”.

In 1990, he turned to New Zealand’s cultural landscape, producing a series of works around the Maori adornment, hei tiki. His exhibition included 29 paintings, 25 works on paper and three sculptural pieces, all riffing on the well-known symbol in Frizzell’s bold colours and stark, graphical style.

“I think part of what an artist is meant to do is awaken people’s awareness of their environment. It’s like keeping people’s eyes open,” he says.

“I paint to succeed, I hate to tell you, I don’t paint to fail,” he says. “I’m a serious painter.”

In his perpetual quest to identify icons that New Zealanders can relate to, he has created an iconic status for himself as well.

WALT Locate and Summarise Ideas

1. Select 5 keywords from this article: hei tiki, New Zealand, Art, Kiwiana, Icon.

Success criteria: key words sum up the meaning. They are often nouns (but not always)

2. Explain why you chose to learn about Dick Frizzell in three or four sentences. What made you interested in him? I actually always wanted to learn about an artist, even though i’m not that good at art.  I’ve heard of him, so when I heard

that he was one of the literacy groups, I chose him. I got even more interested when I saw Mickey To Tiki.

3. Vocabulary: for these words, share a meaning in your own words and find a dictionary meaning

Word	My Meaning	Dictionary Meaning
art	The four arts, Acting, Dancing Music and Drawing.	the creation of works of beauty or other special significance
icon	a piece of art on landpoint.  For example, the L&P bottle in Paeroa is a icon.	a Picture, Image or Representation.
Kiwiana	New Zealand Icons and collectibles.	(NZ) collectable objects, ornaments.

4. Find one artwork that you really like by Dick Frizzell (“Mickey to Tiki Tu Meke” is one example at the top of the reading) and paste it into this document. Use Google - but make sure the artwork is definitely by Dick Frizzell.

     5.   Write five adjectives which describe this artwork.

Funny, Colourful, Amazing, Cool, Smart