Philip Frey is a painter from Maine who has a long history of exhibiting in the state, New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions. He is best known for his bold yet subtle paintings of Maine and beyond, whose primary focus is color and light, and the ever-changing forms found in nature, interiors, and figures. Frey mostly paints from direct perception, preferring the dynamic quality, richness, and joyful challenges of working from life.

In 2016, the Zillman Art Museum mounted a solo exhibition of Frey’s work. He was a fellow at the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation residency in 2012 and at Fairfield Porter’s Great Spruce Head Island Art Week in 2025. His work has been highlighted in several books, including Art of Acadia, 2016, and Paintings of Portland, 2018, both by brothers Carl Little and David Little, and in numerous publications, including: Art New England, Gettysburg Review, Maine Policy Review, and Maine Sunday Telegram. In 2018 Marshall Wilkes published Philip Frey: Here and Now, a beautiful monograph on Frey’s career by art historians and critics Carl Little and Daniel Kany. Frey’s work is held in private and corporate collections both nationally and internationally, including those of writer Harlan Coben, The Jackson Laboratory, Dick Wolf Films, Representative Chellie Pingree, Donald Sussman, and the Zillman Art Museum.

Frey studied at Columbus College of Art and Design and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Painting from Syracuse University in 1990. He is a longtime Buddhist practitioner and has traveled to Nepal and India to study Buddhism. In 1995 he became involved in the Ellsworth Meditation Center and remains an active member.

Frey lives in downeast Maine, where he maintains a full-time studio nestled in the woods near the coast. He also teaches painting workshops around the country.