Meet Chad Cole
Featured Artist November 2024
November 2024
When asked about his work, oil painter Chad Cole replied “I strive to make really good paintings that “speak” for themselves.”
This, however, is an understatement. All it takes is one look at Chad’s moody atmospheric landscapes to find work that does much more than just merely speak.
Chad Cole is an Augusta-based artist originally born in Austin, Texas. After attending Augusta University for his degree and returning to the city to teach, Chad has been an active member of the Augusta art community for almost twenty years. Drawing inspiration and subject matter for his work from the places and spaces around him, Chad Cole uses his paintings to explore a broad range of themes heavily influenced by the Southern landscape around him.
It is through art that Chad is able to fulfill his desire to create and express the thoughts and feelings he cannot put into words. Some of his favorite artists include his former professors the Morris Eminent Art Scholars Philip Morsberger and Jim Rosen, the American Tonalist painters, and artist Paul Cezanne. However, Chad’s work is not just limited to influence from the art world. Chad equally expresses his love for the literary minds of the Southern Gothic with each stroke of the brush. Cole even has a series of paintings inspired by the queen of Gothic Literature: Flannery O’Connor. The latest in this multi-year series, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” is debuting at Candle Gallery this month.
When Chad is not painting, he loves to spend time at home with his wife, son, and two rescue cats. As an avid cycling enthusiast, Cole bikes around town several times a week, using the time to find new ideas and inspirations for his paintings.
You can find Coles’s current show of 40+ paintings in his solo exhibition Land and Lore at the CANDL Fine Art in downtown Augusta this month. The show runs from November 1st- November 29th, 2024. For more information about Cole’s work, including future juried shows and his 2025 Sacred Heart exhibition visit his website or Instagram.
