"Satori," the Buddhist word for "Enlightenment," aptly describes artist John Frizzelle's collection of Zen-inspired paintings.
Frizzelle said he doesn't classify his work as a specific genre like impressionism or surrealism. Rather, he finds in his art a meaning "not necessarily understood by Western society."
"I don't quite fully understand my own work myself," Frizzelle said. "I'm trying to figure it out completely. And this is a major campus, so it'd be really great to meet professors of Asian philosophy with the vocabulary to better describe the feeling."
His collection of 11 paintings is scheduled to be on display at The Creative Oasis, 133 E. Beaver Ave., from Oct. 1 to Oct. 12. However, it has been featured along the front wall of the basement art studio for the past week.
Tonight's artist reception at the gallery serves as an official kick-off to his exhibition. This will be The Creative Oasis' second artist reception, the first being held last May in conjunction with the studio's 11th anniversary.
Attendees of Satori will not only be able to discuss his artwork but also interact with the artist himself.
As Frizzelle admitted, his work is purely "intentionless." He concentrates not on the images developing on the panel before him but on the colors and textures used to create those images.
He uses pallet knives and credit cards to etch patterns on plywood and glass.
"It's all about utility," Frizzelle said. "What's on hand, what's on the streets, what's free."
Frizzelle started his career as a painter a few years after dropping out of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia to pursue a freer, less-structured style of art. During those years, he said he studied Buddhist scriptures and philosophy, living a "meager, poor existence" while reflecting on his life.
"I was living badly before that," he said, "I wasn't much of a person before, really, and I wanted to change."
The artist described a Buddhist term -- ego-construction -- which refers to the mind's false perceptions of reality, saying that painting served as a "vomiting of constructs," or a means of identifying one's own perceptions objectively.
If nothing else, the State College resident of only a month hopes to make new friends.
"I'm going to make [the reception] as nice as possible. I want people to know that I'm here and that all I'm doing is painting," he said.
In the future, Frizzelle's graphic novels will be making an appearance at the Comic Swap, Inc., 110 S. Fraser St. -- the 14th comic store in the nation to feature his work -- sometime in October. After Satori, The Creative Oasis will host an exhibition entitled The Art of Tea, displaying teapots, kettles and more from Oct. 13 to Nov. 28.
