Bernard Frize

This is the first full-length monograph on the paintings of Bernard Frize, an artist whose work straddles movements and styles from Color Field to Minimalism, Fluxus, and Conceptual Art. Frize''s works utilize a carefully constructed range of tools, processes, choreography, and collaboration to catalog, in complex and unexpected abstract form and color, the possibilities of his chosen materials. Emerging from the post-war School of Paris and Supports/Surfaces groups, from the politicized 1970s onward, Frize swam against the tide of opinion regarding painting’s apparent obsolescence to develop a painting practice that could express political commitment and social concerns, while avoiding both overt statement and pure decoration. David Rhodes’ text provides a detailed consideration of all stages of Frize’s development, from the earliest works to the present, covering technical changes in picture-making, Frize''s changing position in relation to painting, as well as the wider conversation about painting itself and the evolution of the international art market.