Artist Reception: Saturday, July 11, 2 - 5pm
Exhibition on View: July 11 through August 8

McClain Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of paintings by Kelli Vance. Her recent solo show at the 2009 Texas Biennial was lauded by Art in America for its personal expression, where seduction and desire are paired with danger and violence in cinematic paintings of women.

Painting from photographs, Vance blows up her photo-realistic images to dramatic sizes. The resulting imagery is simultaneously attractive and alienating, arousing and anxiety-producing. As Michael Duncan, Curator of Texas Biennial, has noted: “In her astounding, larger-than-life figurative paintings, Houston artist Kelli Vance puts us front and center at the scene of the crime. Evoking a kind of repulsed fascination, the meticulously crafted works depict weird sex acts, revenge, humiliation, and physical collapse in crystalline photorealist detail. Vance’s investigations focus on injured female parties – but don’t call them victims. Their expressions of complacency, ecstasy, contemplation, and titillation complicate any easy sense of morality.”

Kelli Vance is currently completing the Roswell Artist in Residence program in New Mexico.

Press Inquiries: Scott Peveto, scott@mcclaingallery.com

McClain Gallery
2242 Richmond Ave.
Houston, Texas 77098
T: 713.520.9988
F: 713.520.0055
www.mcclaingallery.com
Hours: Tuesday - Friday: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Image: Whipped, 2009, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches