Philip Frey: Featured Artist for April

 " The profoundest order is revealed in what is most casual."   (Fairfield Porter)

   Every now and then I run into a painter that can really capture the inner feel of a place, or time, or situation. Philip Frey is one of those. His color is exuberant, the brushwork is loose and the paint is juicy.  There is an abstraction and simplification that pares away the detail to reveal the core idea of the artwork.

 This post is part of a series sharing artists that make work that I respond to. I think many of you already know Philip Frey's art from the many exhibits he has participated in. If he is new to you, read on- you are in for a treat.

 Mondrian's Ice Fishing Shack, oil, 30x40, © 2014 Philip Frey

  The above painting of an ice shack caught my eye online recently and reminded me how much fun Frey's paintings are.  I like the color game here. It's an scheme of cool blues to green over most of the painting and then it's just knocked into chromatic vibration by the addition of just a tiny bit of orange/red in the rope and the that little square between the windows. And then the subject is just so Northern New England. Did you ever have to explain ice fishing to someone brought up south of the Mason/Dixon line? It's pretty funny when you do.

     

  Frey has a number of paintings of Monhegan on his website and this one catches that island light that is so completely magical. I think he is standing along Swim Beach, probably elbow to elbow with a bunch of other painters. There is a link to the website at the end of the post so go check out the rest of this series.

Diver, Swimmer and Acrobat, 12x16, 2013

  I like the gesture of the trio here. There is a rhythm of triangles here moving around the painting that keeps me in the work. The figures are very natural and real. I'd like to see more figurative painting from the artist.

Island and Clouds, oil on linen, 30x30 in., 2012

  This is such a familiar sight to me somehow. I feel like I have been standing right in that spot and looked at that cloud racing over the Island.  The brushwork, the color, the sense of the real is right on here. It could be many different spots along the Downeast coast, but my guess is Stonington, Little Island. It could be an interesting competition: name that small island just off the coast with the glorious skies....

  Philip Frey paints plein air and uses photographic reference to inform his work in the studio. His work centers around color and the patterns of light. He teaches workshops and exhibits at Gleason, The Courthouse Gallery, and Maine Art Paintings and Sculpture. 

  All of the paintings here are © Philip Frey 2010-2014 Used with permission. 

There is a lot more to see here:   http://www.philipfrey.com/

Next Week: The third installment of the Plein Air Series: The Speed of Light