Jason Frizzell.

BIOGRAPHY:

Jason Frizzell received his BFA from the University of Calgary then went on to complete his MFA at the Univertity of Victoria. He currently works and lives in Red Deer, Canada.

Interview:

The following is a excerpt from an interview with Jason Frizzell.

AH: The proposed installation that you are working on has a playful yet subversive feel to it. Although the objects are obvious such as a train car, ladder, and grass there is an emptiness within the subject matter- a nameless, or vague quality about the work. As cliche as the word "void" is, it is hard not to think about a wandering into the void. How would you respond to some of these statements?

JF: It is interesting to speak about work that is not complete yet. I like the potential for sounding like a fool if the work changes significantly over the next few weeks. Your first question contained three key words: emptiness, vague, and void. I often wonder if descriptors like this come to mind when the work contains an absence of the figure or figurative-dependent action or narrative. For the past ten years my sculptural and installation based work depended, to a large degree, on the physical involvement of the viewer. In my mind these works were not complete until the viewer climbed the stairs, stood on the platform, or negotiated some predetermined path. The new work I am making for this exhibition does contain some obvious exertion dependent signifiers there is no potential for physical involvement. The 'floor hatch' does not open, the ladder does not lead to or begin from a specific destination, and the small section of rail does not move. Again, there is no potential for physical involvement by the viewer (apart from walking around and in between the various elements). As well, there is really no potential for 'action' from a surrogate or imagined figure.

On another level, I think your choice of the word void is quite fitting. The very earliest concept for this new work arose from the idea of digging and burying. My working title for the piece is 'I buried my heart in a box behind the shed,' so I was thinking about essentially creating and filling voids. There are many things that we 'bury,' secrets, identity, feelings, treasures, the hatchet, and dead relatives. I think the idea of void is related to a sense of desideratum or a longing to fill the inherent holes of existence and experience.

AH: I know many artist speak about their production as being cathartic, and many criticize them for saying this, however, would this be partly true in your case? I want to push this a bit moreŠ would it be true to say that your work comes from a frustrating need for survivalŠ a need that within our culture is actually quite detached from real life, and, could I say that it is in fact a need for a certain amount of pathos?

JF: One of my initial reactions to this question is that it considers both the role of the artist and the response of the viewer. When we speak of work being cathartic it implies the need for the purgation, purification, or confrontation of emotions on the part of the artist. And when we speak of pathos in the context of works of art it implies that the artist desires a reaction of pity, compassion, sympathy, empathy, or some other heartfelt emotion from the viewer. This puts both the production and reaction/read of the work into more of an emotional rather than cerebral state or context. It would be dishonest for me to deny this is the case in my current and recent work. I remember the artist Peter Deacon once saying that "it is often the most poignant and difficult moments that are the most important." Without a doubt it is the need to survive and emerge from these difficult moments of existence that fuels my creative process to a large degree. I am fascinated by creation and the natural world but have never been inspired to create or mirror beauty in my work. I'm not criticizing artists who do but for me I have always been drawn to the darker, more uncomfortable elements of my own being, personality, and life experiences. This lead to a minor identity crisis when it came time to start my current body of work. Just over 5 years ago our then six year old daughter was diagnosed with Cancer and underwent nearly three years of chemotherapy. It goes without saying that this was the most difficult and intense period I have ever experienced. However, it was also one of the most fruitful and inspiring periods in terms of generating ideas and producing work. So now if we fast forward to the present we are at a point where our daughter has been off treatment for two years and shows little or no physical effects of her illness. How am I supposed to make meaningful work when things are looking so bright? For me there was a real temptation to look back rather than ahead in hopes that peeling the scab off the wound would let the blood and pus of inspiration once again flow freely. It didn't take long to realize that whatever kind of work this produced it would not be honest. All that to say I think the current work is about moving beyond or at least moving ahead. However, I wouldn't say the work is about healing and I am not trying to offer an obvious message of redemption, further reinforcing the feelings of emptiness we discussed earlier. So yes, there is a need for a certain amount of pathos but in a slightly twisted definition of the term where the viewer would confront their own pathetic state rather than mine.