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ilip ey:

e artist

and his studio

By Sonja K. O’ Donnell

Phot s courtesy of artist Philip F ey Peaceful Expanse, oil on canvas, 36” x 48”, 2020.

So much has been written and said about painter Philip Frey and his remarkable 30-some-year career, including in Daniel Kany and
Carl Little’s vital 2018 monograph Philip Frey: Here and Now, (Marshall Wilkes 2018), 96 pages, “for anyone who appreciates Maine
and bold art,” that I arrived at his unassuming nestled-in-the-woods Sullivan studio in search of what had not been. Armed with admi-
ration and curiosity, I discovered the artist at work.

Philip is intimately and intentionally connected to every object, fixture, window and surface of the open plan design of his recently
renovated converted free-standing garage. Within reach, the artist accesses precisely what he needs at any moment throughout the
creative process: a brush, a light, a drill, a tube of paint, a study, a document, a memory, a mentor. Bookshelves offer collections of
Monet, Gauguin, Bonnard, and others. Among these, there is not one but three copies of Howard Hodgkin Paintings. One leans
comfortably next to a copy of Matisse in Morocco.

Artist Philip Frey in his studio in Sullivan.

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