Brian Frink is an American painter whose work explores landscape as a place of memory, perception, and continual transformation. Working from Poor Farm Studios in southern Minnesota, he creates paintings, drawings, and mixed-media constructions that move between observation and imagination, seeking forms that embody both the physical world and the experience of being within it.

Originally from Illinois, Frink earned a BFA from Illinois State University and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Before graduate school, he lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, during its emergence as a center for contemporary artists.

Frink is Professor Emeritus of Art at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he taught painting and drawing for more than three decades. During his tenure he was named a Distinguished Faculty Scholar and presented the university’s Douglas R. Moore Faculty Lecture.

His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the Midwest and beyond and is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Minnesota Museum of American Art. He is currently developing a new body of large-scale paintings and mixed-media constructions for a solo exhibition at the Sioux City Art Center.

Selected solo exhibitions include:

  • James May Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

  • University of Minnesota, Moorhead, MN

  • Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA

  • The Carnegie Art Center, Mankato, MN  

  • The Kaddatz Gallery, Fergus Falls, 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

  • 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  

June 27, 2021: Article about Brian in the Mankato Free Press, “Art Journey: Retiring Brian Frink helped students gain identity as artists”.

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