SPA_CE is pleased to present our third iteration of FrizzPopp - Paintings, Pots & Paper.

Dick Frizzell and Martin Poppelwell first met as Lecturer/Student at the Elam School of Fine Arts in 1990. Over subsequent years a friendship developed that involved both art practice and of course family.

When Dick and Judy Frizzell started their move back to Hawke’s Bay, they initially stayed in a very humble bach at Ocean Beach, and it was at this time that an idea was hatched to paint some iconic ‘local’ images onto plates. ‘Crayfish, Candlesticks, Farm Produce’ etc drawings made their appearance onto the pottery pieces, and became much loved household artefacts. Frizzell responded with aplomb to the limitations that the ceramic process involves, and like Poppelwell had encountered the extensive pottery by the European modernists the likes of Picasso, Miro, Fontana, Leger to name a few. 

And to this project Frizzell has responded with drawings of native birds, sourced from book illustrations, famous artworks and hand painted fridge magnets. Painted on plates and gouache on paper, the works have that inimitable clunk and humor the artist has made his own. Alongside these pieces are Poppelwell’s recent paintings and studies made during Dick’s time in Napier while painting the plates.

Despite the vastly different appearance and subject matter, it is instantly apparent that there is an internal logic in each practice, marks and material built into ideas that underscore the notion that art is about pictures, when really it is about being.