(970) 927-9668
Ann Korologos Gallery presents “Reflecting Light: Len Chmiel and Dan Young,” an exhibition showcasing the works of two of Colorado’s most highly regarded plein air painters. Meet both Len Chmiel and Dan Young at the Artist Reception Friday, July 5th from 5 to 7pm at Ann Korologos Gallery in historic downtown Basalt.
“Len Chmiel and Dan Young are icons in the world of plein air painting, professional noticers, masterful painters, and, as it turns out, friends,” shares Sue Edmonds, gallery director. “Before pursuing painting, each artist had a strong illustration background and professional work in other states, and they both found themselves in Colorado, fully dedicated to painting. They have seen and sensed the land, having logged thousands of miles on foot – many of which are in their proverbial backyard and across greater Colorado. Both painters enjoy depicting interactions of light and shadow across water and wilderness with ever-changing perspectives that defy the rules.”
Len Chmiel was born and raised in a working-class Polish-American community in Chicago in 1942, spent time in California, and now lives in Hotchkiss, CO. Chmiel is a painter, as he prefers to be called, despite being known as an “Artist’s artist,” proven by the many Artists’ Choice Awards – six, at this point – awarded by his peers who consider him a master of design and composition.
Chmiel starts his process on the land, where he feels he came from and will go back to. For the highly respected Chmiel, each painting he creates is an expression of himself. “I used to try to control everything, but now I allow my intuition to speak,” reflects Chmiel. “I try to stretch the truth of what the actual image is. I do paintings with recognizable subjects because I’m inspired by what I see; however, that is not my only intention. I also want to expand the boundaries of realism rather than merely painting a facsimile.” He chooses places not for their grandeur or beauty, but because they have a sense of “being” about them.
It is his emotional response that he works to put down in the moment, but back in the studio his work expands onto large-scale canvases. From a place of flux and movement, Chmiel works the canvas and the composition, painting light, transparency and movement across a desert bluff, a foggy morning, or ice cold, “gin clear” water. His home and studio are perched atop a mesa in a house he built himself surrounded by gardens, greenhouses, his studio, and views of mountains, plains, mesas, rivers, wildlife and trees.
Dan Young is long-time resident of Silt, Colorado and spent his childhood along the shores of the Roaring Fork River. He attended Colorado Institute of Art, moved to Dallas, TX and had a successful illustration career before the mountains called him back to paint, and he has been represented by Ann Korologos Gallery since 1993.
Over the years Young has mastered the challenges posed by painting on location, regardless of the season, and has earned a reputation as one of Colorado’s premier landscape artists. By painting on site, not only does his work acquire a more natural feel and sensitive light, but it also allows him to spend his time back in nature. Young’s plein air impressions often depict beloved locations and pastimes of the West.
His landscape paintings feel familiar to those who know the wild of the West, though the artist often rearranges the landscape before him, taking continual delight in discovering new subject matter in familiar surroundings, and finding inventive ways to paint it.
Dan Young enjoys painting the rural life of the west, the ranches that dot the mountain valleys and river bottoms. He explains, “Though I’m a landscape painter, I like introducing hints of man’s presence in the landscape. Sometimes I feel I’m in a race to paint a disappearing way of life. It’s hard to watch so many of the family farms and ranches being swallowed up by development.”
From his plein air winter scenes dotted with fences, structures, or moonlight on irrigated fields, to the summer fly fishermen and towering mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains, Young often celebrates the boundaries where nature meets man.
Ann Korologos Gallery represents over thirty artists who celebrate Colorado through the arts. “Reflecting Light: Len Chmiel and Dan Young” is on view July 5 to 17th with an opportunity to meet the artists at the Opening Reception Friday, July 5 from 5 to 7PM. Visit the spacious gallery in historic downtown Basalt, CO (211 Midland Avenue) and virtually at korologosgallery.com. For questions, inquiries, or virtual installations, please contact art@korologosgallery.com, call (970) 927-9668 or visit korologosgallery.com.
