Len Chmiel has been called an "iconoclast," and his paintings have been described by critics as "compelling." One reviewer wrote of his work, " The underlying elements of good design and good draftsmanship are there. But something makes you look at the painting, wonder about it, leave it, and come back. Chmiel's paintings may be off balance, or they may have no center of interest. There may be a streak of color where nature never put it or a spot of pure black. Everything is painted by the rules except a single element."

Chmiel studied at the California Institute of the Arts and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. He enjoyed a career as a successful commercial artist before moving to an old mining camp in Colorado in 1971 to concentrate on painting.

A 1976 liaison with the Stremmal Galleries in Reno, Nevada, marked a turning point in Chmiel's career. Since then, his art has been exhibited at the Rocky Mountain National Water-media Show, Denver Rotary Club's Artist of America from 1984- 1986, the Arvada, Colorado Center Museum, and the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum Artist of the West show in 1988.

His work also was featured in 1992 in an exhibition titled "Seven From Denver," sponsored by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. He has taught at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Rocky Mountain School of Art, Denver Art Museum, the Scottsdale Artists' School, and Disney Feature Animation Studios in Orlando, Florida and Burbank, California.

Prix de West Catalogue 2001