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Scott Richards Contemporary Art presents ROAD TRIP, a new series of high-rev, high-shine photorealist oil paintings by Cheryl Kelley. A cocktail reception for the artist will take place on Thursday, November 3, 5:30-7:30 pm. The exhibition continues through November 23.
Cheryl Kelley’s exquisite paintings of automobiles present high-powered muscle cars as seductive objects of desire, and reveal them as not only 20th century icons, but as metaphors for the American Dream itself, in all its complexity. Working from photographs she takes at car shows and museums, the artist manipulates the images to create wide-angle, in-your-face compositions. The smooth high-gloss varnish of her painted surfaces mimics the sleek veneer of her subjects, while the dramatic angles and detailed close-ups of metal, chrome and rubber caressing the fluid lines of the engineered designs suggest boldness and undeniable sex appeal.
Kelley renders the reflective qualities of chrome and gloss in hyper-realistic detail, and employs the reflections in the mirror-like finishes to add a layer of subtle, yet engaging, complexity to the works. In some of her paintings, such as Red Jag Rear, a maze of abstract pattern emerges and overlaps the composition; in others we can see tiny figures and landscapes within the reflections, revealing worlds within worlds. The surrounding environment interacts with the reflected landscapes as well, giving the viewer insights into the people, culture, and places that frame the cars, as in the street art depicted in Trans Am with Banksy.
Kelley brings a uniquely female perspective to these objects — which are usually almost synonymous with bad-boy hyper-masculinity — by heightening the graceful, curvaceous outlines and lush, bright candy colors of the cars. “The compositions flow from recognizable bumpers and hood scoops to rambunctious abstractions with colorfully gleaming showroom highlights,” said the Village Voice, “it ain’t a man’s world anymore.”
Cheryl Kelley is a recipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Award. Exhibitions of note include Photorealism Revisited, at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art; and invitational shows at the Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, CT and the Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. Collected nationwide, her work has been reviewed in many publications, including ArtNews, the New YorkTimes, and San Francisco Weekly, and has been featured on the cover of Harper’s magazine. A native of Texas, Kelley earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston in 1992. The artist lives and works in Northern California.
New York City, NY — Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery is pleased to the announce Photorealist Urban Landscapes, the first exhibition to present a historical overview of cityscape paintings by the following artists; Robert Bechtle, Anthony Brunelli, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Max Ferguson, Robert Gniewek, Gus Heinze, Don Jacot, Charles Jarboe, Cheryl Kelley, Ron Kleemann, Neil MacCormick, Jack Mendenhall, Bertrand Meniel, Robert Neffson, Adam Normandin, John Salt, Raphaella Spence, and Nathan Walsh. This historical survey of the Photorealist urban landscape aims to access and reevaluate the method in which the cityscape has traditionally been painted. The earliest painting in this exhibition is by Ron Kleemann and the most recent painting is by Raphaella Spence.
Spence’s Roma di Sera (2016), depicts the historical city skyline over a bridge on the Tiber river in Rome. The city’s history is mirrored in its architecture that it is meticulously painted in the background and reflected in the river. In contrast, an earlier painting of the Old Police Headquarters (1984) by Richard Estes captures a quintessential cityscape scene. It is the former headquarters of the New York City Police Department. Estes paved the way for artists working today by narrowing his streets to follow the multiple point perspective of his compositions depicted in this painting.
Kleemann’s Manhattan on the Hudson (1979) is a painting of a yellow helicopter and a yellow maintenance truck at the Heliport in midtown Manhattan on the Hudson River. There is a gray chain link fence serving as a barrier between the viewer and the Heliport. The license plate of the maintenance truck reads NY indicating that the rarely depicted setting is New York City. The only skyscrapers in Weehawken, New Jersey and are visible in the far distance.
Approximately two dozen paintings are included in this exhibition. Many of the artists exhibited here are also on view in the traveling museum exhibition 50 Years of Hyperrealism that is currently on view at the Osthaus Museum in Hagen Germany through January 2017. The exhibition has traveled to notable institutions such as the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza in Spain, the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, The Birmingham Gallery of Art and more.