Dick Frizzell initially worked as a commercial artist after graduating from the University of Canterbury in 1964. This introduced him to the notion of art making as a profession. It also placed him within the environment from which much of his imagery has evolved. Frizzell’s art is humourous yet touching, with a love for the advertisements, billboards and posters from the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Four-Square Man, that are familiar to many New Zealanders.

This was later followed with an exhibition based upon his appropriation of the Tiki in paintings that reinvented this symbol in Cubist and Art Deco style. Although humorous, these works raised questions about ownership of a culture and who has the right to utilise its icons and symbols. Frizzell has received considerable recognition from the art institutions in New Zealand and in 1997 was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition toured by the City Gallery Wellington.