Finding ‘Shirttail Kin’
Cole in blossom, night, 2020 From bullies to muses, East Texas artist empathizes with his subjects JAMES RUSSELL | Contributing Writer James.Journo@gmail.com Chivas Clem returned to his hometown of Paris, Texas, in 2010 after more than a decade in New York City, to find the small town he left in the late 1980s to attend Connecticut College mostly unchanged.
He also found new inspiration from an old, unexpected source. Cole with dead hawk 2021 When he first got to New York, Clem was selected to study in the prestigious Whitney Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
It is a selective program that has produced internationally-renowned artists, critics and curators. Clem studied in the visual arts division.
But he worked across fields, including at magazines and running an acclaimed art space. He found some success, but by the time he moved back home to Texas, he had grown sick of the hustle of the art world.
