Exibhit shows varied art of Thomas Chimes
Monday, September 14th, 2009
By: Peter Crimmins
pcrimmins@whyy.org
Artist Thomas Chimes was born in Philadelphia and died in Philadelphia, and in between created a unique and eccentric body of work. Some say it's so varied that its impossible to pin down a defining style for his paintings. Chimes is being remembered at the gallery that represented him this week.
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Chimes lived in New York in the 1950's, and just when abstract expressionism was taking the world by storm, he left to come back to Philadelphia. He said he wanted to develop his own vision away from the spotlight of fame. That could be his lasting legacy. Reza Nahaie-Ghanad is a grad student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and says he was struggling with his own paintings until he discovered Chimes' disjointed body of work.
Nahaie-Ghanad: He's laid out this map of how to work in this way… intuitively I feel really connected to him. So I feel like my artistic process will never be the same after having run into Chimes and his work. It fits like a glove.
The Locks Gallery in Washington Square is exhibiting Chimes paintings from the 1960's and the most recent work until September 18th.