KEEPING TRACK OF TIME
AUGUST 5 - OCTOBER 2

• Opening Reception / Meet the Artist: Friday, August 5 / 5-8pm
• Free and open to the public
  
• Opening Reception coincides with Art Round Town*

Exhibit Statement:
One of the things we’ve heard from so many artists over the years is that inspiration is overrated and discipline is essential. It is in the practice itself that we find the seeds of inspiration that can take root and grow.

Philip Brou’s Keeping Track of Time brings the “drawing a day” trend to a new level. His work resonates with our shared experience of pandemic isolation, ever-changing restrictions, and the need to process our new realities. These seemingly innocuous scenes experienced on daily runs remind us all to take the time to observe and reflect. Together, their impact is profound.

Artist Statement:
Philip Brou is an artist and amateur runner. Running every other day for much of his life has served as both exercise and a meditative practice.

During 2021, he brought his running and studio practice together by making an ink wash drawing documenting each time he went running. There are a total of 197-drawings that record places momentarily encountered while on the move. The locations he observes and chooses to depict are more utilitarian than picturesque — parking lots, views of the road, public boat launches. These humble and typically overlooked locations bring attention to temporal subject matter such as weather, time of day, and seasonal change. The drawings are modestly scaled, roughly the size of the artist’s footprint. They are executed in an amount of time approximately equal to the time it takes him to go running. The date, which also serves as the title, is written in the lower right corner of each piece.

While running, the artist considers qualities of drawing such as light, atmosphere, and composition. While drawing, his focus is on running and rendering visible qualities such as cadence and stamina. This reciprocity blends the physical, metaphorical, and meditative processes of each practice. Over the course of this project, the metronomic rhythm of running one day and drawing the next stitched together a time that felt otherwise fractured. The artist views the project as a type of clock that processes days by both running and slowing down, creating a very specific way of keeping track of time.

The project has since expanded into 2022 to include full-color watercolor paintings.

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Philip Brou bio:
Philip Brou is an artist and educator based in Maine. Brou’s work focuses on questions of identity, selfhood and the human condition. His meticulously researched and executed projects use a wide range of media and methodologies. Brou earned his MFA from The Ohio State University and his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has been the recipient of awards including the Biennial Purchase Prize from the Portland Museum of Art, a Good Idea Grant from the Maine Arts Commission, Faculty Development Grants from Maine College of Art & Design, an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and a Presidential Fellowship from The Ohio State University. His work has been exhibited at the Portland Museum of Art, Portland; The Fitchburg Museum of Art, Fitchburg; The Museum of Art at the University of New Hampshire, Durham; The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland; The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, Portland; Ohio Urban Arts Space, Columbus; Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells; Able Bake Contemporary, Portland; 1708 Gallery, Richmond; Office Hours Gallery, Burlington; The University of New England Art Gallery, Portland; and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York City. Reviews and acknowledgements in notable publications include Two Coats of Paint, Art New England, Maine Arts Journal, The Portland Press Herald, The Portland Phoenix and The Columbus Dispatch. Philip Brou currently lives in South Portland, Maine. He serves as Program Chair of Foundation and Associate Professor of Foundation and Painting at Maine College of Art & Design.

Acknowledgements:
Philip Brou would like to thank Maine College of Art & Design for their generous support of “Keeping Track of Time” through the Hildreth Fund for Faculty Development.

*Art 'Round Town is a gallery walk in Portsmouth on the first Friday of each month.

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Stay connected to the Gallery from home: view the virtual Gallery!

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Generously supported by:

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3S Artspace is supported in part by a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

3S Artspace is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts through the New England Arts Resilience Fund, part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, an initiative of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with major funding from the federal CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Thank you to our year-round Lead Sponsor: