BILLINGS — For 12 years, Chance Robinson has lived among the stars. For the last two, he has painted what he has seen through his telescope, bringing inspiration from the cosmos to the canvas.
“It’s like standing on the edge of infinity," said Robinson.
Often taking inspiration from the natural beauty of Montana's iconography like trout and bull skulls, he said his most abundant muse has been the state's big sky.
“You think of those beautiful sunsets. The sky is so big you almost feel dizzy looking up into it," said Robinson, “and then you see it at night - and Big Sky Country doesn’t begin to describe how big of a sky that is.”
Robinson, who once aspired to be an astrophysicist with an academic path toward Stanford, said his conversion to a full-time artist has ignited a re-discovery of something more personal than science.
“This series is really about touching base with that original sense of self. I loved art as a child and I loved space," said Robinson, "There are no words to describe what it means to do something like this for your younger self, for your original self.”
He said his search for luminescence in life and art provided meaning to the darker moments and spaces, a symbol found in the black canvases used for his work portraying the brightness of the celestial bodies he features.
“It’s by no coincidence that everything I paint is painted on a black background. (The paintings) come from a dark time. They were a way for me to cope with that dark time," said Robinson, “You look at the night’s sky, you look at those stars; some of the brightest objects in the universe are held by darkness."
He noted that he feels he has been incredibly fortunate to live a life among the arts.
"(Painting is) how I thank the universe for the opportunities it’s given me. It’s how I show my gratitude," said Robinson.
