Cold Front

by Susan Hagen

Phil FrostThrough April 28, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad & Cherry sts., 215-972-7600, www.pafa.org

Growing up in Wisconsin, I spent many years of my life looking at the world through a mesh of white falling snow. When I saw Phil Frost’s exhibition at the Morris Gallery last week, like a taste of madeleine, I re-experienced the intense optical sensations of snow from years past. Using a correction fluid pen, which yields a matte, opaque, white surface, Frost systematically lays down intricate patterns of dots, hearts, arabesques and zigzags over practically anything that comes his way. These white, lacelike graphic surfaces grow, one could say obsessively, but also with a certain reverence and rigor, from Frost’s singular view of the world.

Eight magnificent wall pieces, made from a variety of found objects and, perhaps, several cases of white correction fluid, form the predominant part of the show. Harvest (2001, 74 1/2 by 52 by 1 1/2 inches) has a layered ground of found materials, including S&H green stamps, and lace, over which Frost has painted blocks of rich color -- magenta, pink, olive and amber -- and geometric mask forms. On top of this, he added his trademark correction-fluid patterns that beautifully recapitulate the forms and materials in the background. Like many of his pieces, Sabbath 12 (1999), deals with Frost's mystical beliefs, but at a vast scale -- almost 19 feet across. Here he layers collage elements like flattened motor-oil cans and painted elements like distorted faces over wood panels with protruding box forms. The white patterns on top are wonderfully differentiated, with many of Frost's standard motifs appearing, along with text, stars and a highly schematic Christlike figure with outstretched palms.

Line (2001, 103 by 14 by 4 1/2 inches), one of the four sculptural pieces in the show, reveals Frost extend7ing Wite-Out patterns over nature itself, in the form of a large vertical tree branch. Another sculpture, Open Heart Ascension, also from 2001, has the same surface treatment, but in this case nine glass water cooler bottles arranged neatly on a wood palette are the ground for Frost's painting, with each bottle's personality expressed through variations in the decorative patterns. In some of these sculptures, the wonderful absurdity of Frost's obsessive patterning is almost matched by the unusual ground on which he paints.

Self-taught as an artist and inspired by graffiti and skateboard culture, Phil Frost invests his work with an up-to-the-minute energy while at the same time touching on something eternal. But, like the optical stimulation of falling snow, Frost's pieces at their very best are purely and exquisitely visual.

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