Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregory Fricker.
Gregory, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Narrative is difficult for me. I don’t feel like I’ve lived one single life. It seems more like I’ve played a bunch of unrelated skits and landed a recurring role for the first time recently. I grew up in Alaska but never lived in the same place for more than two years until 2015. After High school I left Alaska as soon as I could. I felt cornered there. I spent 20 years in the United States Army where I was military police, a helicopter pilot, a medic, an ammunition technician, and even a math Tudor for cadets at one point. It was like I was lost and kept changing jobs to see if that was where I was supposed to be.
I’ve always felt more like I was impersonating Gregory Fricker rather than actually being him. In 2010 I returned from what was I think my second of four combat deployments. I was coping with the end of my “personal best” of bad relationships when the cumulative effect of combat trauma caught up with me. I turned to art because I really needed a reason to want to continue being me. I needed something to love about myself. The act of creating and the experience of hanging out with other artists gave me what I’d been looking for. It was the first time in my life I remember thinking “I sort of like being this Greg dude.” I’ve been an artist ever since.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I saw other artists making art about love, loss, injustice, etc. and I envied the directness of it all. I tried to emulate that but could never seem to nail down what I felt about the world around me long enough to tell anyone else how to feel about it. At some point I decided to own that instead of wishing it wasn’t true. The art I make now is about the wonder and beauty I’ve found specifically because I didn’t understand how to feel in a given moment. It’s about saying “I don’t know” and being ok with that. Even valuing it.
The sterotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
Don’t buy things you don’t need. Some people can get $150 worth of use out of a $150 brush but I’d be willing to bet Vermeer would’ve still been Vermeer with a brush out of the $15 bin. The difference between a $300 set of markers and a $100 set is nothing compared to the difference between someone who constantly practices and someone who doesn’t. Preference doesn’t equate to necessity. I think photographers have a saying, “the best camera is the one you have with you.’ Same thing goes for art supplies.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have a show with Sandra Attales mid-December at Studio Sesh in Islamorada, Fl. It’s in the Keys so it’ll be a nice warm holiday.
You can also view my work at Art prize this year. I’ll be at Pallet Coffee & Art for the event which begins Sep 19th in Grand Rapids, MI. People can always hit me up on Instagram @gregoryfricker or via my website www.gregoryfricker.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gregoryfricker.com
- Email: gregoryfricker@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregoryfricker/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gregory-Fricker-409302872828789/
Image Credit:
Gregory Fricker
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