In 2017, I accompanied LA-based photographer Keith Skelton on a road trip from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon. About an hour north of Flagstaff, winding through desert scrub, sage brush and prehistoric Indian dwellings, I caught sight of my first Chip Thomas art installation - four 30' fuel tanks serving as an imposing canvass for his provocative large-scale murals.
Thomas is a physician and street artist who has worked and lived on the Diné (Navajo) Nation for more than three decades. He coordinates the Painted Desert project, a collective of renowned street artists honoring the culture of the Navajo people.
If road trips occasionally take you to places you do not expect, so too will the art along this lonely stretch of US-89.
Thomas is a physician and street artist who has worked and lived on the Diné (Navajo) Nation for more than three decades. He coordinates the Painted Desert project, a collective of renowned street artists honoring the culture of the Navajo people.
If road trips occasionally take you to places you do not expect, so too will the art along this lonely stretch of US-89.
