Entitled ‘Tiki to Tiki’, the ‘survey’ — opening at Milford Galleries next Saturday — comprises paintings going back to Frizzell’s 1992 ‘Tiki’ exhibition in Auckland which became one of the most talked about in New Zealand art.
‘‘He got roundly criticised for taking what was presumed at the time to be an exclusive Māori object, and to some extent, of course, that was true, but it also isn’t because it’s ours, and ‘ours’ means NZ,’’ Milford Galleries director Stephen Higginson says.
Included in this exhibition is a 2013 oil painting from an original watercolour, Mickey to Tiki Tu Meke, which he produced for a children’s charity in ’95.
One of the most seminal paintings in NZ art, it features the seven-step transformation of Disney’s Mickey Mouse into a tiki figure.
‘‘That watercolour went for $110,000 a few years ago at an online auction,’’ Frizzell says.
‘‘And then I did an oil painting 13 years ago, out of curiosity and one thing and another.’’
He then completely forgot about it till Higginson convinced him to exhibit a series of all his tiki art — at the time he’d also got back a whole lot of early tiki works from a Wellington dealer.
Frizzell then decided to do another two tiki paintings ‘‘to bring it right up to date’’.
He’s looking forward to seeing the exhibition of 30 artworks himself — ‘‘I mean, I know all the works, but I got a lot of them reframed and gussied up and they went straight down to Queenstown’’.
Now 82, he’s frequently visited and exhibited here and is a great fan of the place.
‘‘I’ve got a few friends who live out of [the CBD] and they say, ‘oh, we don’t go in there’, they call it ‘Gotham City’, and I think . . .that’s a bit over the top’.’’
Though he does admit the traffic’s ‘‘a bit of a pain’’.
‘‘Makes you think twice about your lunch at [Arrow-town’s] Ayrburn sometimes, doesn’t it?’’
Frizzell’s exhibition runs till May 12.
- Dick Frizzell’s giving a talk at his Milford Galleries exhibition opening on April 4 at 5pm.
