Lyons Wier Ortt Gallery is pleased to announce Chrome, Cheryl Kelley’s third solo exhibition of new paintings.

Using the automobile as a point of reference, Cheryl Kelley continues her exploration into issues of gender, power, and freedom. Through exquisitely rendered canvases, Chrome displays the luminosity and mystique of the automobile that has captured the imagination of so many since its inception. Juxtaposed to her previous exhibitions of all muscle cars, Kelley’s introduction of luxury sports cars like Porsche and Bentley creates a conceptual dialogue of modernity’s influence on design, social trends, technology and taste.

From an artistic perspective, Kelley creates stunning likenesses that reflect the surface of the subject as well as the world around it. Similar to standing in front of a mirror, the viewer simultaneously shifts between the object within and the world around them, between reality and fantasy, as they project themselves into these imaginary landscapes. This conceptual leap, combined with impeccable rendering, transforms the ordinary into extraordinary and the automobile into other.

From a sociopolitical perspective, the work could read as a dialogue between class, distinction and perhaps declivity. The automobile ushered in the riches of industrial revolution as well as the ramifications of global warming. It has played a major role in the energy crisis, green house effect and hence, war. Both powerful and provoking, one gazes at these paintings as objects of desire, longing to hold the legend and lore so wonderfully woven into our fabric of modern life. These paintings are so beautiful that we quickly lose sight of the car’s negative impact upon the individual and society.

Chrome is a precarious conundrum between commodity and community, demonstrating Cheryl Kelly’s deft ability to oscillate between pure documentary of design, beauty and political commentary.

Cheryl Kelley lives and paints in Houston TX, and received her BFA from the University of Houston in 1992.