Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, artist Lorenzo Chavez was influenced at an early age, both by the pervasive and distinctive Southwestern atmosphere of that region, and by his early familiarity with the paintings and drawings of the classic artists who worked there in the late 19th and early 20th century. Chavez was particularly impressed with the painters associated with the Taos Society of Artists, whose work he sees as having been a catalyst for his own. Chavez has mounted a life long study of these artists, and of others, building a personal library of books devoted to his spiritual and aesthetic mentors.

In 1979 he moved to Colorado attending first the Colorado Institute of Art (now the Art Institute of Colorado) and after graduation, pursued further studied at the Art Students League of Denver where he worked with painter Mark Daily. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chavez attended workshops throughout the country, creating along side of some the most highly regarded representational painters of the time, including Clyde Aspevig, Ned Jacob and Richard Schmid. Like these artists, Chavez prefers working on site, employing the plein air method of doing preliminary pieces outdoors.

Despite all these experiences, his style still refers back to the painters that inspired him during his New Mexican childhood, and his landscapes seem as though they respond directly to the sensibilities of the classic artists of the Taos School, in particular to Joseph Henry Sharp and Walter Ufer. Chavez has taken in other historic influences too, such as the soft-focused approach of the California impressionists, and the graphic style of Maynard Dixon.

Chavez has been a professional artist for over twenty years; he leads workshops for other artists and has exhibited his own pieces throughout the West. He paints in oil on canvas, but he is best known for his pastels on board, which he regards as paintings. These remarkable pastels have led some to call him the finest pastel artist in the country. This is doubtless owing to the richly hued and heavily coated surfaces he is able to achieve that leave the realm of drawing far behind, and really do appear to be paintings.

The compositions in Chavez’ pieces, either in oil or pastel, have formal properties that establish an emphatic structure. He especially likes to use strong diagonal sight-lines to bring the viewer deep into the threedimensional space of the picture. Instead of viewing trees, mountains or mesas in a predictable straight-on way, Chavez records from a less obvious vantage point. In this way, his paintings avoid the symmetrical balance inherent in most traditional landscapes. Instead he chooses more romantic arrangements of forms that have been balanced asymmetrically.

As much as any artist doing work based on the Colorado scenery, Chavez embraces artistic traditions. Like his forebears in New Mexico, Chavez values the beauty found in nature. His oeuvre conveys the notion that his principal interest is capturing the majesty of the unspoiled Western wilderness, even while, in reality, it’s quickly disappearing.