Painting outdoors is essential to Kelly's process. Natural light and ambient sounds help keep his work fluid and instinctive, preventing it from becoming overworked or stagnant. Interestingly, Chris rarely listens to music while painting. As a trained musician—a drummer and guitarist—he finds that rhythm and melody can be too influential, steering the work in unintended directions.
Chris Kelly is an artist based in Austin, Texas, with formative ties to Colorado as a competitive skiier, Michigan, and Illinois. After early studies at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado and a period pursuing music at Bennington College in Vermont, he returned to painting during the 2008 financial crisis. Following work in house painting, the service industry, and a career in the wine industry—including certification as a sommelier in 2012 and founding a label design business where his paintings were utilized — Kelly committed fully to painting. He shifted focus and began selling his artwork independently in 2021. That decision marked the beginning of his current and lifelong path as a full-time artist. Most recently, Chris became a father—a life change that inevitably shapes his work as he grows and learns alongside his daughter. He lives and works in East Austin with his family.
b. Aspen, CO, 1987
EDUCATION
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO — Scholarship-Supported Studies
Bennington College, Bennington, VT — Studies in Music and Architecture
GROUP + SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026
Austin City Hall, Main Floor, Austin, TX (through May 2026)
2025
Austin Studio Tour, Home Studio, Austin, TX
Cohart Selects, U.S.
2024
Sotheby’s International Realty, Washington, D.C. (solo; select works; ongoing)
Studio Steinbomer, Austin, TX (solo; ongoing)
Cohart Sigma Tauri, Canopy, Austin, TX (group)
Austin Studio Tour, Red Line Studios, Austin, TX
2023
Alta Marfa, Chinati Weekend, Marfa, TX (group)
2022
Vinology, Houston, TX (solo)
The Banton, Austin, TX (group)