Jason Phu: A frog band plays in a frog pub

I was at yum cha when in rolled the three severed heads of Buddha: Fear, Malice and Death. frog band plays in a frog pub to small frogs in the frog swamp at the beginning of time. peace in my mind, love in my heart and a stomach full of butterflies. The whimsical titles of Jason Phu’s works hint at the artist’s approach to life as much as art. Picked at random from fleeting thoughts, usually in response to some external prodding, these at times poetic and often nonsensical fragments of text suggest a light touch. They pertain to an artist who does not take himself too seriously, whose practice springs from a kind of empathic bemusement at all the contradictions of this world. Phu trained as an artist in Sydney and is now based in Melbourne, having spent significant periods living in China. Filtered through his love of popular culture – in particular video games, TV and animation – as well as his dedication to spending time with friends and family and his Chinese/Vietnamese heritage, Phu’s work is produced in short, sharp bursts not unlike the process of plucking those evocative phrases from a slow stream of consciousness.

Phu’s curiosity about working with diverse media has led him to make drawings, installations, prints, paintings, and performances: he is open to whatever medium best suits his current project. His paintings might at times betray his interest in calligraphy and ancient Chinese folk tales, but they are also firmly planted in the contemporary languages of mass-produced imagery and in the artist’s personal history. Often combining cartoon-like outlines, loopy text, and drippy backgrounds in ice-cream colours, Phu’s paintings are playful distillations of disparate references that invite an affable response. His work is threaded through with an absurd comic sensibility grounded in everyday interactions and encounters. Humour may not be a deliberate artistic strategy, but as Phu acknowledges, a comic approach offers a ready means to connect to viewers, getting around preconceptions and potentially shifting existing perspectives. The artist also notes that in Chan Buddhism, which has influenced his life and art, absurdity features as a path to enlightenment.

For his upcoming show at Chalk Horse, Sydney, Phu is making a series of paintings which will draw on his broad set of cultural references and personal experiences, no doubt executed with his characteristic humour that at once delights and disarms.