Cham Hendon

Robert Chambless "Cham" Hendon (September 14, 1936 – January 11, 2014) was an American painter whose unusual style of painting and lush, colorful canvases earned him recognition in the New York City art scene of the 1970s and 80s.

[3] Cham, as he was known since his childhood, was a quiet, well-educated man with a good sense of humor and the manners instilled by a Southern up-bringing.

He completed a Master of Fine Arts degree that year at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his paintings were represented by the Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago.

John Russell, art critic for The New York Times, wrote in 1979, "When Marcia Tucker got together an exhibition called "Bad Painting" at the New Museum not long ago, the best bad painter on view was a young man from Wisconsin called Cham Hendon."

The poured paint "achieves a great physical presence, vital and energetic, with a good-natured energy that is truly infectious".

[19] Though primarily a painter, Hendon participated in a print making project at Tandem Press,[20] an extraordinary printmaking studio that was just getting underway in 1987 at the University of Wisconsin.

William Weege, the driving force behind Tandem Press, believed strongly in the collaborative nature of the print making process[21] and he attracted many artists who were not primarily printmakers.

In 1978, he participated in the "'Bad' Painting" show at the New Museum in New York City, curated by Marcia Tucker.

His work was well received in New York and the three paintings he exhibited sold the night the show opened.

[25] During those years, his work was the subject of more than thirty solo exhibitions and over fifty group shows, in the United States and in other countries, including Germany, Italy [26] , and Mexico.

He also held visiting artist positions at East Carolina State University, Greenville, North Carolina;[16] Mankato State College, Mankato, Minnesota; and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.

In 2007, Hendon returned to the east coast, settling in Hamden, Connecticut where he continued to paint and show his work until his death in 2014.