Anthony Frost is an English abstract artist whose vibrant, colorful paintings and prints exhibit the raw energy and freedom of rock music.
He lives and works in Cornwall.
Frost is the son of Sir Terry Frost RA.
He earned his BA Honors in Fine Art from Cardiff College of Art in 1973, and has served as artist in residence at the Cyprus School of Art, Cyprus, the Montmiral School of Painting, Tarn, France, Eton College, UK, and was the Tate Artist in Residence, Oceania, Caribbean in 2011.
Frost has developed a unique process that is part painting and part collage.
His method is based on instinct and intuition, similar to automatic drawing or action painting.
He begins by forming abstract shapes out of found materials such as sail, sail cloth, fruit netting, burlap, pumice and rubber. He then collages them in layers on the canvas and paints the shapes with vivid colour. His technique is fast paced and unconventional.
The goal is to transcend the limitations of preconceived ideas and come up with something true to his inner vision.
Frost is also an accomplished printmaker. Despite the methodical requirements of printmaking, he is renowned for his ability to impart the freedom and energy of his painting style into his prints.
Frost has said that music inspires him more than the work of other visual artists.
He has created several album covers and merch designs for the English post-punk band The Fall.
His ambition when he begins a new painting is to visually manifest sensations normally attributed to music, such as rhythm, speed and volume.
He sees color, shape, texture, dimensionality and mark making as tools with which to create a new space in which these musical elements can materialize as abstract visual compositions.
“When starting a painting I don’t know the problems I will have to deal with until the painting is well on the go, and the secret (for me) is to keep the whole thing on the boil right to the end, so the finished work has that feeling of excitement, speed and danger. I try to take all my paintings to the edge – it is voyage of discovery, full of surprises, problems, accidents (happy accidents that I use to my advantage) and decisions, which all have to be resolved in some crazy way.”
Anthony Frost
