Anthony Frost

"I have to make sense of what I do"

  It's something Anthony Frost once said , and it catches the way his painting works. The bright colour and repeated motifs suggest the straightforward , and , on one level, that's where Anthony is - making things plainly what they are. But to leave it there would be to miss the complex nature of the struggle to make sense that is involved in the development of each new work.

  " What's there is what's there , and that's another kind of complexity " : Brice Marden's statement strikes a significant chord with frost, and can be noted literally in his studio. Not only are the physical raw materials spread around the room , but piles of tapes, CD's and books indicate the music , pictures and photos that add to the complexity of what's there in Frost's case. The connotations of the seemingly simple are complex indeed ; a brush strokes of a certain colour , straightforward action that it is , may relate to a mass of thoughts , actions , memories and reflections , all stimulated by what's physically there in the artist's life. Many of the stimuli are consciously chosen, like the music ans radio drama Anthony listens to as he works, but chance comes into play when a certain word, phrase or run of notes has a significant effect on the work in progress without any preconceptions or invitations to connect with his conscious of thoughts.  

So, each Frost painting contains a mix, a complex synthesis, of conscious planning and random events in its a development. Fully aware of this, he pits one against the other, accepting the random as springboard for the careful thought and decision making each painting requires . He accepts what comes when he picks up a piece of paper or a readymade strecher , willing to allow the shape it is to influence his next step , the initial mark - making of the painting process . Even when constructing a canvas out of pieces of material tied together and stapled to the stretcher , he doesn't treat this as the first level of conscious composition . It's more like a stage set , where the action takes place , so does have an influence , but remains distinct from the painting work , which is very much where Frost gets down to trying to make sence of things.

He's accepted what's up turned up on the wall of his studio ready for painting , and now he works to blend chance material with conscious in order to create art . It's a complex interchange , where randomness and provoke thought and careful consideration of shape , gesture or colour. Actually , he thinks of the work of creating a painting as trance - like , and there isn't always differentiation between conscious act and random occurrences , whether they are accidents of nature or slips of brush or hand , or even unconscious actions spurred by emotion , deep memory or external stimuli. The last on that list adds to the stage metaphor , often providing the sound track . As mentioned above , music is another input into the trance of the creative process.

The idea of the activity of creating art as a trance - like experience is one thing , but Frost does not put himself forward as a shaman . He works with everything that's there at the time of painting , but is active in the mix of conscious and unconscious , the planned and the randome . He mentions Cy Twomby as an influence , emphasising that he has " that amazing capacity to make it look like as if there's no thought in it ! " This is a significant comment because , while it suggests that paintings come right through luck , it confirms that artworks are , the products of careful thinking . That thinking , however , does include the acceptance , and even welcoming , of accident and mistakes as a part of the process . like a slip of the tongue , the unintended twist of the brush may have a pertinent unconscious meaning.

The painting should be the record of a journey , so the mistake and blind alleys are as much a part of that as moments of success . Frost likes the idea of moments ; these are the stages of the journey , and comprise the entirety of the process . The moments describe for him passages of time and of painting , and they are all important , even those which slip by or are painted over . Sometimes he feels moments passed or painted over need to be brought back , often these have initially been defined as mistakes . So , the process of creating a painting is one in which everything counts , and nothing is wasted.

Anthony looked at two paintings close together on the wall ofhis studio and was atruck by the zig zag pattern set up by shapes at the edges where the two paintings met . This triggered momories of earlier work , and new paintings with zig zag motifs began to get made . That old influence , and master of the juxtaposition of random elements to create meaning , Don Van Vliet slipped into the process by providing the titel , a Captain Beefheart track from long ago , which has sparked Frost's imagination in the past.

For a sociable , outgoing person , Frost seems introspective in his work methods . While he does gather throughts , phrases , ideas from social situations , one feels the business of working on paintings is solitary . This is where things flow . of where he has to battle with materials , paint or other bits of the world he's confronted with . It's a strange , intense process , where everything is concentrated on the focal point of the painting in progress .What is it that makes the artist , and invest , so much into a particular place or space ? It's that need to make sense of things in Anthony Frost's case.

 

Mike Venning,

Senior Lecturrer,

Historical & Cultural Studies ,

Falmouth College Of Arts .