We first encountered Erwin Chan's art eating a tasty shrimp Chow mein dish at Little Creek restaurant in Santa Elena, Cayo District, Belize. It was in the form of a collaborative lush tropical mural created with Jorge Landero to cover 2 major walls in the restaurant. On a recent visit to Erwin's studio at his home we learned that Erwin gravitated towards Jorge as an artist when he was 19-years-old. Having begun to pursue art as a passion beginning with drawing, connecting with Jorge as a teenager put him on the path to taking painting seriously as a future career path. He headed to Guatemala to improve his skills attending art school as a youth.
Chan attended Escuela Regional de Art "Humberto Garavito" in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, for 3 years where he was able to sharpen his painterly skills a sizeable distance away from home and his family in Bullet Tree Falls. In that time, Erwin participated in 2 exhibits each academic year for a total of 6 exhibits before returning home. Now he has been artist by profession and able to support his family for 15 years making some of the most notable art. He mostly focuses his art on the steady commissions he has lined up along with his art sales at Art Shack, GariMaya and Belize Arts. But when mural opportunities arise he prefers collaborations with fellow artists like Jorge Landero and others. What's clear from being in his home is the support between the artists: we see Kelvin Baizar's and Kevin Moralez's vividly gorgeous jaguar and hibiscus paintings respectively hanging in his living room.
Erwin walks us through his process of sketching initially to start a painting then moving that painting onto the canvas then watercolor to set the pencil for painting. He ponders his usual process of working on one painting at a time usually unless he gets a commission with a prompt deadline. We learn that paint is costing around $65 a piece for the larger tubes of acrylic, brushes cost around $20, and that the cost is much more expensive in Belize than, say, Guatemala. We mentioned Kelvin Baizar selling paint tubes at the Placencia Sidewalk Art Festival, and remarked that he appreciates sourcing paints from him as well - yet another way artists support each other in Belize.
As we look over our photos with Erwin he spots one of his paintings at the Art Shack booth and speaks fondly of his relationship with the owner, Saidy, noting the favorable commissions that center the artist rather than the gallery which is standard. When we asked if he participated in the Placencia Sidewalk Art Festival he mentioned he had his art in the "Sea Turtle Art Exhibition" at Sea Turtle Inn, also in Placencia the previous weekend on Feb 1, as were several of the artists at the Festival.
GariMaya in the Stann Creek District has been featuring Chan's art at their gallery for nearly a decade, Erwin shared. When we visited their gallery in Hopkins we found that they had volumes of flat canvases of Erwin Chan's original art in stacks on tables bearing many years, at least, of painting hours by multiple local artists. There were signs there restricting photography of the artists' work to protect the integrity of their original paintings.
In discussing artists' influences on Erwin's art he acknowledged Papo Alamilla, a famous artist from San Pedro, that has had a broad impact on emerging artists throughout the country. He referred to him endearingly as simply "Papo" - the "godfather of modern art in Belize" to some extent. Chan recognized also the need to pass his love of art onto future generations "saying he "would love to teach youth how to paint," but recognized their waning interest after a few visits to his studio hoping for their sustained interest.
This artist prides himself on his unique current approach of a more representative style rather than the details of the more common photo-realism nature paintings, while he experiments with abstract style and even a "Starry Night" inspired painting of a marine landscape. At now 15 years supporting his family as a professional artist, who has created dozens of paintings, Erwin Chan still says he's learning with a confident humility.
See Erwin Chan's art in person in the "Our Sea, Our Life" exhibit at the Reyna Art Gallery at West St, San Ignacio opening April 11, 2026.
Two lingering questions for the future: What was he first inspired to paint and what was the first painting he sold??
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