Distracted and Ready For Action

If you spend any time in Cornwall, and particularly in St Ives, as I do, then Anthony Frost is hard to avoid. Not the man himself, but the work, which adorns the walls of many a public space in the town. His trademark ‘triangle’ has even been incorporated into the logo of a local restaurant and the reflection of their neon sign can often be found floating in the sea during nights of high tide and little wind. Frost explains that this triangle, like a laterally aligned stylus with a blunted tip, is in fact a diamond, and has been a recognisable motif in his work for many years now.

“How many?” I ask him.

“Too many,” he replies.

Apparently it stems from a project in which 52 artists were each sent a playing card and Frost received the ten of diamonds in his envelope. He’s done dominoes as well. But things are changing. Of the thirty or forty pieces laid out in readiness for his new exhibition, Surface Noise, the diamond has been phased out, or at least relegated to some of the minor pieces. Taking its place is something far less pre-figured, less cautious, possibly, and certainly more energised. Whatever has given rise to this new burst of creative expression isn’t completely clear (I have my own theory – more of that later), but Frost is obviously excited about it. And with good reason, in my opinion. The work is exuberant, almost ecstatic in its use of colour, and suggests a kind of artistic exploration, in which the journey itself is the whole point of the project. Paint and process, Frost says, are the key issues here, as if the finished product is almost an unexpected bonus. It begins with a surface – usually but not necessarily a stretched canvas – onto which a further surface might be appended, often some strip of fabric ripped from an everyday object, such as an onion bag, or a potato sack, or on one occasion, a director’s chair. Onto several other pieces Frost has attached what to you and me looks like a piece of groundsheet, or the lining from some high-performance fleece jacket. It’s called “ripstop”, apparently, a material from which sails and other maritime equipment are made, and I take it as an indication of Frost’s recent creative ebullience that he should be applying paint onto one of the world’s most liquid-resistant materials. And apply paint he does, in great quantity. With such a hefty price for each tub a more prudent artist might be more careful as to how, where and why such paint is used. But for Frost, intuition appears to be everything, and it’s for this reason, I would argue, that the studio is full of distractions. The subconscious – like a night-animal coming to the lawn – can never be summoned. Somehow, we must occupy our rational thoughts with other matters, and simply hope that the mysterious occurs. So the kettle boils, or the phone rings, or the workmen whistle, or the view beckons. Or a poet visits. Or family and friends pop in for a chat. And almost continually the radio speaks, or a CD plays. It’s no mere accident that Frost is both a fan and an acquaintance of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith, a master tactician when it comes to disruption and distraction, whose own output might be thought of as the musical equivalent of Frost’s paintings. In fact Frost’s work proudly appears on the cover of a number of Fall record covers, most notably the Extricate album. Typically enough, it was photographed upside down. Restored to its correct perspective, it now takes pride of place on an easel in the middle of Frost’s studio, perhaps as trophy, perhaps as an emblem of everything that matters. The fact that the studio is very cold is further testament to Frost’s attitude to art, and evidence of his technique. A poet, sitting and writing, wouldn’t last half an hour in this temperature. But Frost’s restlessness must keep him warm as he approaches then withdraws from the work, or even turns his attention to another piece in order to keep the spontaneity alive.

The title of this current exhibition is a quote from another of Frost’s heroes, the late John Peel, and most of the pieces have been given names relating to song lyrics or track titles. Captain Beefheart gets a mention, not surprisingly. And if the music is name-checked as the inspiration for these works, it is also credited with a second function: that of creating sufficient diversion to allow Frost to steal in under the radar of his own rational mind and apply the brushstrokes. Or the palette-knife. Or whatever else he might attack the canvas with. To that end, the pieces needn’t be thought of as literal interpretations of the tracks themselves, although it is intriguing to speculate that a kind of captured noise is on display here: the world of sound given its physical form; a sort of cross-section or CAT scan of the soul as it responds to musical stimulation.

That evening, at Frost’s house above the mystical and primal north Cornish coast, I wheel out my theory. It’s a bit Freudian, I’m afraid. Even a little bit Oedipal. I’m thinking out loud at this point, but I wonder if this new vibrancy and freedom in his work isn’t a kind of ironic manifestation of bereavement, or release, for an artist who lost both of his parents about three years ago. Not only did Frost grow up in the world of art, but in his own words, he grew up in “a house of abstraction.” In those circumstances, wouldn’t all artistic rule-breaking feel like conformity, or the continuation of a family tradition? Also, for a poet like myself, always rummaging in people’s dustbins for a free symbol or working metaphor, isn’t the piece “Digital Mystic”, with its bandaged cross set against a euphorically coloured background, both a tribute and triumphal at the same time?

Frost, his own man, isn’t so sure about this interpretation. And he has every right to disagree. After all, he’s spent a lifetime working all this out, and my own theory is less than a day old. But in the hours after my departure, while I’m still lost on the mist-shrouded lanes of the Penwith Peninsula, I hope he might come to think of it as a compliment. That was the intention. It must take a heart of huge muscle to make such dazzling art from the canvasses and paint which were, quite literally, his inheritance.

Earlier in the day, back at the studio, I’d shown Anthony Frost a new trick. Well, it’s probably old hat in the playground by now, but to me it’s a revelation. Here’s how it works: play some music, dial 2580, then hold your mobile phone to the speaker. A few seconds later a service called Shazam sends a text message with the name of the track and the recording artist. Ten pence a shot. Works every time. My approach to art, it now occurs to me, is not dissimilar: I look at something, and wait for a response. In the case of Anthony Frost, I detect an artist who is passionate about colour and transfixed by contrasts, and I sense art which resonates with personality and crackles with confidence. Stand before these paintings, and listen.

Simon Armitage

2006

Selected Bibliography

1951 Born St Ives, Cornwall 
1970 – 73 Cardiff College of Art 
(BA Honours, Fine Art) 

COLLECTIONS

 Nulfield Trust 
John Moores 
Contemporary Art Society 
Cornwall County Council 
Truro Museum and Galleries 
Kasser Foundation, New York 
Devon County Council 
Contemporary Irish Art Society 
Limerick Art Gallery and Museum, Ireland 
Whitworth Gallery, Manchester 
Lloyds T.S.B. London 
Kings College, Cambridge 
Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge 
The Bank of America, London 
E-People, Milton Keynes 
Rotary Watches Ltd 
Standard Life 
QBE International Insurance
Williams Energy, London 

EXHIBITIONS 

 1975 Envelope Show, JPL Fine Arts, London
1976 ‘Deck of Cards’ JPL Fine Arts, London 
1977 ‘Dartist’ Show, Newlyn Art Gallery 
1977 - 78 ‘Four Young Artists’, 
Penwith Gallery, St Ives 
1978 John Moores, Liverpool 
1979 Compass Gallery, Glasgow 
1980 ‘Three Degrees of Frost’ 
(Terry, Anthony & Adrian). 
Prescote Gallery, Banbury 
‘Public Hanging’ Penwith Gallery, St Ives 
1981 Compass Gallery, Glasgow 
1982 Sainsbury’s ‘Images for Today’
Compass Gallery, Glasgow 
1983 ‘Small is Beautiful’ Angela Flowers, London 
Wet Paint, Four Man, Festival Gallery, Bath 
‘Flower Pot Art’, Bath Art Fair and 
Christopher Hull Gallery, London 
‘A View From my Window’ 
Angela Flowers Gallery, London 
1987 ‘Four Abstract Artists’ 
Angela Flowers Gallery, London 
‘The Daybrook’ Smiths Gallery, London 
1988 Invited Artist. ‘The London Group’ 
Royal Collage of Art 
1988 – 89 ‘Small Show’ Flowers East, London 
1989 A Century of Art in Cornwall, 
Truro Museum & Art Gallery 
1990 Abstract ’90, Cleveland Bridge Gallery, Bath 
South West Touring Exhibition, 
Plymouth – Prize-winner 
Commission: The Fall ‘Extricate’ - 
Album & 2 Singles covers, T-shirt & backdrop 
1990 – 91 Christmas Exhibition, 
Austin Desmond, Exeter 
1991 ‘Colour Senses’ Three Abstract Painters, 
Spacex, Exeter 
‘Young St Ives Painters’ Hall Gallery, 
Sterts Centre, Liskeard 
1991 – 92 ‘Small is Beautiful’ – Part 9 Abstract, 
Flowers East, London 
Cornish Artists, Gordon Hepworth Gallery, Exeter 
1992 Artists from Cornwall, 
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 
Summer Show, Curwen Gallery, London 
Three Man: Andrew Lanyon, Alfred Wallis, 
Anthony Frost, Gordon Hepworth Gallery, London 
1993 Small is Beautiful ‘Homages’ 
Flowers East, London 
1994 ‘Beyond the Edge’, Paintings & Sculpture f
rom Cornwall, Unit 10, Exeter Touring 
Affordable Abstract Art, Belgrave Gallery, London 
Contemporary Printworks, Spacex, Exeter 
‘Small is Beautiful XII’, 
Angela Flowers Gallery, London 
The Little Picture Show, Rainyday Gallery, 
Penzance 
6” x 6” Small Artworks, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, 
Swansea (& London/Germany) 
1995 ‘Beyond the Edge’, Paintings & Sculpture 
From Cornwall, Usher Gallery, Lincoln 
‘The Edge of Beyond’ 
1995 – 96 Anna Bornholt Gallery – Mixed Shows 
1999 Flowers West, Santa Monica, America 
2000 – 01 Eden Project, Cornwall 
2003 ‘Frost/Bourne/Tyler’ 
Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester 
2004 ‘Buon Natale’ Advanced Graphics, London 
2005 Islington Art Fair, Beaux Arts, London 
The Armoury, Advanced Graphics, New York 
‘Summer Show’ Beaux Arts, London 
2006 Islington Art Fair 
2006 Irving/Frost/Canning Monoprints, 
Advanced Graphics, London 
‘Paintwork, The Fall’ Praxis Hagen Gallery, Berlin 
‘ London Calling’ Advanced Graphics, 
The Original Print Gallery, Dublin 
‘Summer Show’ Beaux Arts, London 
The Armoury, Advanced Graphics, New York 
2007 Art Now Cornwall, Tate St Ives 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

1979 Newlyn Art Gallery 
1981 Mandeer Gallery, London 
1982 ‘Works on Paper’ 
Canterbury University Gallery 
1983 ‘Dangerous Diamonds’ 
Posterngate Gallery, Hull, 
Lincs & Humberside (touring) 
1986 Anthony Frost ‘On Colour’ 
Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn Orion 
1987 ‘Whiff of Magic’ New Paintings, 
Wolf at the Door Gallery, Penzance 
1989 New Paintings, 
The Salthouse Gallery, St Ives 
1991 Monotypes & Related Paintings, 
Gordon Hepworth Gallery, Exeter 
Paintings and Monotypes, 
Royal Cornwall Museum Galleries, Truro 
1993 Rainyday Gallery, Penzance 
1994 Bodily Gallery, Cambridge 
1995 Gordon Hepworth Gallery, Exeter 
Jersey Arts Centre 
1996 ‘Viva Blues’ Newlyn Art Gallery, 
Touring show Belgrave Gallery, London 
‘Viva Blues’ Midland Arts Centre (MAC), 
Birmingham 
1997 ‘Viva Blues’ Darlington Arts Centre 
Kings University Arts Centre Gallery, Cambridge 
‘Viva Blues’ (The remix – The Unofficial Tour) 
The Belgrave Gallery, London 
‘Viva Blues’ (First Touch of Frost – 
The Unofficial Tour) 
The Forefront Gallery 
1998 ‘Viva Blues’ Mid Penine Gallery, Burnley 
Maymie White Contemporary Art, London 
Kings University Arts Centre Gallery, Cambridge 
1999 The Corporate Connoisseurs, London 
Jersey Arts Centre, Jersey 
2000 Kings College, Cambridge 
2001 ‘The Sound of Colour’ Hillsboro Fine Art,
Dublin 
‘The Space I’m In’ The Corporate 
Connoisseurs London 
‘Walking into Red’ Advanced Graphics, London 
2002 The Original Print Gallery, Dublin 
2003 ‘Big Colour in Space’ Space, Penzance 
2004 ‘Zig Zag Wanderer’ New Work, 
The Somerville Gallery, Plymouth 
2005 The Otter Gallery, Chichester University 
‘Lunar Notes – Neon Dreams’ 
Advanced Graphics, London 
2007 ‘Surface Noise’ Beaux Arts, London 

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 

Cyprus School of Art, Cyprus 
1992 Judge & Organiser, Seven Celtic Artists, 
Finnistere, France 
1993 Montmiral School of Painting, Tarn, France 
1999 Judge - JJ Fox Painting Competition, Jersey