Chuck Connelly is an American painter best known for his Neo-Expressionist depictions of landscapes, allegorical scenes, surreal abstractions, and idiosyncratic still lifes. His work channels artists like Vincent van Gogh and Willem de Kooning in both its thick application of paint and distressed brushstrokes, resulting in dark, labored canvases. “The darkness comes from overworking them and that is like eternal darkness,” the artist has remarked. “I can’t help myself. I can’t help overworking it. But when they’re fresh and ripe there’s nothing better.” Born on January 7, 1955 in Pittsburgh, PA, he went on to study at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia before moving to New York in the late 1970s. There, he rose to prominence alongside other Neo-Expressionist artists like Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 2008, HBO produced an Emmy Award-winning documentary on the artist, The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly: Not for Sale. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Portland Museum of Art in Maine, and the Tuscon Museum of Art, among others. Connelly lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.