1 "Angela"
Lori Earley
Wide-eyed wonderment, paintings too good to resist (at least for one thief) in the artists new show, Fade to Gray
By Megan Martin
Published: March 19th, 2008 | 1:42pm
In a quiet room, on a gray New York City day, there are several forlorn looking women gazing through large, glassy eyes at the people filtering in and out. They are on watch, but perhaps not closely enough, at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Chelsea. The women are not alive, but rather a creation of artist Lori Earley for her latest exhibit, Fade to Gray.
The images are captivating and beautiful, all in grays and whites. They are muted, repressed in a way, and yet powerful. Alongside the oil paintings are the sketches from which they were rendered.
Earley's style is a distinctive one. She studied art at the School of Visual Arts in New York, alongside notable artists such as Marshall Arisman and Steven Assael. She began exhibiting her oil paintings in 2004, and in March of the following year her piece "The Hunter" graced the cover of Juxtapoz magazine, giving her the visibility to escalate to the next level.
The women portrayed in her paintings resemble a scene in high fashion. Models in full hair, makeup and clothing sit for a portrait as Earley creates an eerily lifelike representation of them with her oil paint and canvas. The models' physical features are slightly distorted. Their enlarged eyes are the major focal point of each piece.
She's done several solo shows at galleries throughout New York, Santa Monica and Seattle. Her latest takes a turn into a quieter period of her life, displaying her models in soft settings with tones of only grays and whites.
The environment also lends much to the paintings and sketches. The wallpaper, a white damask-motif wallpaper designed in collaboration with Adam Wallacavage, gives the room a very Victorian essence. The women within the images also express a feeling of olden times, when a woman knew her place and only spoke when spoken to.
Earley said she feels physically and emotionally drained as a result of working so many hours, for extended periods of time, on her paintings these past few years. This is strongly represented in Fade to Gray.
During this latest exhibit, Earley had another side of her artistic character and stability tested when one of her images was stolen from the gallery. It has yet to be recovered. A press release from Jonathan Levine Gallery states, "Both the gallery and the artist are extremely upset and disappointed by this theft… We would greatly appreciate any help you might have with finding the missing work." If only these silent women could talk.
Fade to Gray is on exhibit at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery until March 22, 2008.
Issue #35
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