Lori Earley
Fade to Gray

Solo Exhibition
Gallery II

Opening reception - Saturday, February 23rd, 7pm-9pm

February 23, 2008 through March 22, 2008

NEW YORK, NY (January 29, 2008) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to announce Fade to Gray, a solo exhibition featuring new drawings and oil paintings by the internationally acclaimed artist Lori Earley. This will be the artist’s first solo show at the gallery, marking the fourth solo exhibition of her career, to date. Fade to Gray offers an intimate presentation of Earley’s unique creative process, as it is the first time a collection of her skillfully rendered graphite drawings has ever been exhibited. This series provides a rare opportunity to see original studies on a smaller scale, as the artist does not keep a sketchbook, and only produces one drawing per painting through her practiced studio method.

In Fade to Gray, Lori Earley elaborates upon her signature aesthetic with a new subdued palette, evoking mood and intensity. Blending photorealist painting techniques with Mannerist elements of surreal distortion, Lori’s portraits of hauntingly captivating female figures bring historical context into a contemporary light. The stylized, elongated necks and limbs of her subjects accentuate delicate features, with prominent eyes that hold the viewer in a penetrating stare. Cast in dramatic lighting effects that produce an ethereal glow, their fair skin and hair appear as pale as alabaster, ghost-like and incandescent.

Earley’s shift into a muted color palette for Fade to Gray reflects a new direction for the artist, who typically paints in a vivid chromatic spectrum. These faded hues represent the artist’s emotional and physical energy levels, caused by a demanding creative process. After investing arduous hours into her work, Earley uses an absence of color to express feeling drained. Expanding on this theme for her gallery installation, all pieces will be framed in white and displayed on custom Victorian-inspired wallpaper, produced in a flocked velvet texture for the site-specific installation. The wallpaper was designed especially for this exhibition by Lori Earley in collaboration with artist Adam Wallacavage, as part of his new venture: Curio Wallcoverings.

About the Artist:
Lori Earley grew up down the street from an amusement park in Rye, New York. She began drawing at a very young age, always intrigued by the unusual—a fascination that would become a trait in her art, later on.

Lori received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she studied with influential artists like Marshall Arisman and Steven Assael. A recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, she was one of the few students in her graduating class to receive the Rhodes Presidential Award for Outstanding Achievement. In 2004, she began exhibiting her oil paintings. Her debut feature article can be found in the March/April 2005 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine, where her painting of “The Hunter” graced the cover. Since then, her fine art career catapulted at an unusually fast pace. Her artwork has been exhibited in prominent galleries in New York and on the West Coast as well. Fade To Gray at Jonathan LeVine Gallery marks her fourth solo exhibition, to date.
Lori Earley draws inspiration from high fashion, her artistic influences include the painting techniques of J.W. Waterhouse, John Singer Sargent, William Bougeureau, and Steven Assael as well as the subject matter of artists such as Chris Cunningham, Ray Caesar, and Floria Sigismondi. Her oil paintings are a unique combination of classical realistic rendering with an element of distortion. Their distortion is derived from her innate desire to render the world she feels as opposed to the world she sees. Often, the eyes are her primary focus of expression and every painting is a portrait of implicit emotion and mystery. Lori’s figures exist in their own esoteric realm and time, each of her paintings offers the viewer a glimpse into the anomalous world she has created.