As a child growing up several miles south of Steamboat Springs near the small mining and ranching town of Oak Creek, Block’s work is fundamentally informed by the deep-rooted ethos of the Mountain West.  His paintings reflect the often rugged yet nuanced stories of his friends and neighbors, and provide a present-day portrayal of a history that reaches back generations if not millennia. 

 

Block was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1986 and moved to Colorado at an early age.  During his childhood, he quickly developed an intense curiosity for the natural world, and spent countless hours outdoors with a sketchpad, closely examining everything from streams to stones to skies.  He continued to develop his skill as an artist throughout high school, and painted whenever he could while earning his BA in biology at Colorado College.  As a student, he made a conscious decision not to take any painting courses or adopt a mentor, opting instead to learn through experimentation and the study of paintings by artists he admired.  After graduating summa cum laude in 2009, he devoted himself to painting and has since gained recognition as "one of the most promising young artists in the representational art world" (Fine Art Today).