Lori Earley’s Anima Sola Opens in New York

The Fine Art of Lori Earley.

NEW YORK, NY (April, 2007) — Opera Gallery presents Anima Sola, acclaimed artist Lori Earley’s first East Coast solo exhibition featuring ten large-scale paintings. For Anima Sola, Lori Earley presents an art couture collection, fusing high art with modern fashion. Inspired by the imagination of fashion icons such as Alexander McQueen or the exotic wardrobes of Jennifer Nicholson, Lori Earley's stunning portraits of esoteric women evoke mood and form as equally poignant and delicate as the textured gowns they wear. Each elegant and edgy oil painting requires a mastery of technical skill and painstaking execution. Anima Sola will be on view at Opera Gallery from April 28th through May 19, with an an opening reception held on Saturday, April 28th, from 6pm - 9pm.

(Every painting begins as an idea stemming from my subconscious,� says Lori Earley. As a preliminary creative process, Lori Earley translates her ideas into multiple sketches for her evocative backgrounds or minimalist landscapes. The artist arranges a photo shoot in her studio with a model to enhance mood and accuracy of pose and figure. Lori Earley then creates a final sketch from her photograph of the model, and only then begins her painting in oil. For her new series of portraits, Lori Earley's models pose in original Jennifer Nicholson couture dresses. The celebrity fashion designer is an avid collector of Lori Earley's work.

Through this innovative approach, Lori Earley succeeds in capturing a unique quality of the fashion designer's vision and transforms it into a new art form. Lori Earley fuses tangible beauty with a complex dream world. Her works are deeply personal, resulting in exotic, elongated figures in intense atmospheric surroundings. Lori Earley's melancholy portraits with exaggerated eyes evoke the eternal enigmatic qualities of mystery and longing.

Lori Earley's oil paintings blend elements of fashion and romance, rendering them distinctively contemporary. In her painting (Caterpillar Dream,� a young woman's stylish ebony gown, complete with velvet corset and trim, a design inspired by Alexander McQueen, communicates a delicate sense of fluidity and fantasy, a metamorphosis complete. Paintings in progress also include the signature fashions of Versus, Donatalla Versace's clothing line, and another inspired by Torrente in Earley's commissioned painting, (Portrait of Ms. Celosse�. Her popular painting (Hope� features a white Victorian-inspired dress from designer Nicolas Ghesquiere's Balenciaga label.

Lori Earley relates to these fashion designers sense of imagination and creates an alternate reality through aesthetics and appearance. She reveals her own inner emotional labyrinth through striking visuals and elements of play. (I have always been inspired by the complexities in fashion – to me it is an art form as well,� explains Lori Earley. (When I first started my fine art paintings, I felt vulnerable, so the figures mirrored that – they were all naked. I wanted to clothe them in beautiful creations just as beautiful and complex as they themselves.� Her infusion of Jean Paul Gautier's sheer fabrics and clever design, Christian Lacroix's ornamental flair, or the femininity of Jennifer Nicholson's couture fashions, is a theatrical presentation; her poetic beauties exist in multiple realms.

For Lori Earley, the elements of fashion serve as a cultural expression of the female subject's pure emotion and raw beauty. Her architectural classicism is skewed with evocative modernity. Capturing the sensual side of virtue in her stunning portraits, Lori Earley paints beauties ranging from angelic innocent to moody maiden worthy of the Edgar Alan Poe. Having only begun exhibiting her paintings in 2004, Lori Earley’s exposure has brought her international acclaim and recognition. A leading lady of the Pop Surrealist art movement, Lori Earley casually questions, (Why not paint what is beautiful?â€?

To achieve an incredibly flawless surface complete with rich detail, Lori Earley paints on ultra-smooth, fine imported Italian linen. Her skilled execution, from the sublime texture of a garment, to details of expressive eyes, to dramatic lighting, is one of visual perfection, with each painting often taking a month or more to complete. Due to the time-consuming nature of her work, the artist exhibits her paintings to the public only once a year, drawing a waiting list of collectors hoping to acquire an original work.

Fans looking for more affordable renderings of Lori Earley’s femme fatales, limited edition Giclees printed on imported Hahnemuhle paper and canvas with archival inks, are available at www.loriearley.com. A limited edition Giclee print on canvas paper of, Regret, will be available through Opera Gallery during the exhibition and at www.loriearley.com. The edition, limited to seventy-five, are all signed and numbered by the artist.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lori Earley grew up in New York and graduated from the School of Visual Arts. Select group exhibitions include (Idols of Perversityâ€? at Bellweather Gallery and (Pop Pluaralismâ€? at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. In addition to high fashion, Earley is inspired by the painting techniques of J.W. Waterhouse, John Singer Sargent, William Bougeureau, and Steven Assael, as well as the subject matter of artists Camille Rose Garcia, Ray Caesar, and Floria Sigismondi. Lori Earley’s work has been published in Juxtapoz, Traffic, The New York Sun, Fine Art Magazine, The L Magazine, and Home and Garden Magazine. For more information on the art of Lori Earley, please visit www.loriearley.com.

www.loriearley.com

ABOUT THE GALLERY
Opera Gallery New York opened its doors in 2000. It is located in the heart of Soho, a place famous for its artistic excitement and a long-ago center for the arts in the world. Between Mercer and Greene Streets, Opera Gallery New York is a large open space in which the visitor feels at ease from the very moment he walks in. A permanent exhibition shows the work of around forty renowned artists worldwide.

Contemporary painting, amazing masterpieces, sculptures, and unique pieces of furniture are presented by a team of art experts. While providing the perfect showcase for the works of the Great Masters such as Picasso, Buffet, Dali, Gauguin, Miro, Braque and Chagall, Opera Gallery also devotes itself to promoting new artistic talent. Opera Gallery has always supported young artists who have gone on to achieve international recognition. Moreover, Opera Gallery continues to scout out new European, Asian and American talent. Photography, painting, sketches, sculpture, video creations…all existing art forms are expressed by artists from every continent. For more information, please contact 212-966-6675, or email nyc@operagallery.com.

www.operagallery.com

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