Brian Frink
Mankato, MN
Painter based in southern Minnesota, Brian Frink creates work that explores abstraction, narrative, and landscape. He lives and works at Poor Farm Studios LLC.
Message
Brian Frink has received numerous grants, awards, and fellowships. These include: 1995 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship (NEA); 1990 Wisconsin Arts Board Individual Artist Fellowship; two McKnight Individual Artist Fellowship,s 1992, 2001; three Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant,s 2014, 2016, 2018; four Minnesota State Arts Board Individual Artist Fellowships, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2022
In 2012, he was designated "Artist of the Year" in the Twin Cities Arts and Culture weekly City Pages. This award was related to his work with the Rural American Contemporary Artists (RACA) organization.
He is an emeritus faculty member at Minnesota State University, Mankato, in Mankato, Minnesota. In 2010, he was designated a Distinguished Faculty Scholar and was the 2019 Douglas R. Moore faculty lecturer.
Brian grew up in Illinois, attending school at Illinois State University in Normal. In 1979, he moved to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY, where he lived for five years. He and Wilbur were true “urban pioneers” of that now-famous artist neighborhood. In 1985, he began graduate school in Madison, Wisconsin, where he earned his MFA in 1989. Brian and Wilbur have two children and six grandchildren.
Brian maintains an active exhibition schedule. His work has been collected extensively and is in public and private collections.
Selected solo exhibitions include:
- The Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis, MN
- The Unitarian Church of White Bear Lake, MN
- University of Minnesota, Moorhead, MN
- The Goodness Gallery, Rochester, MN
- Coe College, Ceder Rapids, IA
- The Carnegie Art Center, Mankato, MN
- The Spirit Room, Fargo, ND
- The Kaddatz Gallery, Fergus Falls, MN
- Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
- Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA
- Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, SD
- Blanden Art Museum, Fort Dodge, IA
- Mclean County Art Center, Bloomington IL
- University of Minnesota, Morris, Morris, MN
- Plains Museum of Art, Fargo, ND
- Carnegie Art Center, Mankato, MN
- Arts Center of Saint Peter, MN
- University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC
- Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
- University of Dallas-Texas, Richardson, TX
- Northfield Art Center, Northfield, MN
Selected group exhibitions include:
- Minnesota State University, Moorhead, MN
- Art of Water, James May Gallery, Algoma, WI
- Minnesota Museum of American Art, St Paul, It's Complicated
- South Arkansas Art Center, AR
- James May Gallery, WI
- Coe College, IA
- McKnight Foundation, MN
- Illinois State University, Il
- University of Wisconsin, WI
- Groveland Gallery, MN
- Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN
- Sioux City Art Center, IA
- Madison Art Center, WI
- Rockford Museum of Art, IL
Statement
Brian Frink
Brian Frink is a painter based in southern Minnesota, where he lives and works at Poor Farm Studios, a former county poor farm reimagined as a vibrant center for artmaking and community. He shares this creative life with his partner, Wilbur; together they have raised two children and delight in six grandchildren.
Frink’s paintings have been widely exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States and are held in numerous public and private collections. Over the course of his career, he has been recognized with major honors, including two McKnight Fellowships, nine Minnesota State Arts Board grants, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Wisconsin State Arts Board grant, and a Jerome Travel and Study grant. In 2010 he was named Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he taught painting and drawing for more than three decades.
Born in Illinois, Frink studied at Illinois State University before moving to Brooklyn in 1979, where he became part of the early artist community in Williamsburg. He went on to earn his MFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His work continues to explore the fertile intersections of abstraction, narrative, and landscape, drawing on the cycles of nature and the layered histories of place.