Three classic Chili Thom Canvasses now available as prints
words: Feet Banks
Chili didn’t have a drum scanner when he was first starting out, or a professional photography studio. After he’d finish a painting, he’d set it up in the on the deck out by the pool and get the best pic he could with whatever digital camera we had on hand. (And yes, for a few years there in the early 2000s Chili was the classic “starving artist”, except with a swimming pool. We’d lucked into an incredible house in Pemberton before the market there really took off. Shout out to Tracy and Dave Beattie for keeping the rent at human levels too. Best landlords we ever had, hands down.)
In any case, this means that much of Chili’s early work was never captured in a format that would work to make prints any larger than a dozen or so inches wide. And since his work always sold quickly, there are a lot of “lost” pieces out there.
But not all. Thanks to his Masterpieces show at the Audain Art Museum in June of 2017, many of Chili’s classic pieces were professionally photographed by Hemlock Printers and will be available as prints. Starting right now…
On the 3-year anniversary of his passing, Chili’s estate is pleased to release three previously unavailable prints from 2000-2005, painted during the years that saw Chili quit his job(s) and focus entirely on building his life as an artist.