CHLOE EARLY “Rainbow Ruins”

On Saturday, November 10, Corey Helford Gallery is pleased to present “Rainbow Ruins,” a new solo exhibition of oil and watercolor paintings by artist Chloe Early.

The paintings of “Rainbow Ruins” are a chromatic meditation on the lush contrasts of nature and technology. “Lullaby Lost” reveals an urban secret garden, characters reflective in an organic environment, where bright and autumnal abstractions frame tonal perception. “I wanted to invert that feeling of technology taking over and show nature and the environment in retaliation, my new paintings and the figures in them are almost being subsumed by the plants and foliage around them.” Early describes her work as colorful classicism, a painterly lyricism infusing contemporary hues with classical persuasion. Finding a balance of optimism and decay, Early explores poetic contrast, where an urban wilderness reveals unexpected songs of transcendent extremes.

“Lullaby Lost” is as Early describes, “an abandoned journey, a dead end, a downpour and a radioactive palette.” Central to all the work is emotion, grounding mercurial worlds with human presence. “The idea was to create a kind of Lost scenario, people taken from contemporary society but placed in an ambiguous environment, surrounded by wild nature and various degenerate machines,” says Early. The painting’s thematic shifts reflect in the moods of its human figures, vibrant with transformation. “The changing pace of technology, the distance between how we live now and even 50 years ago, these old machines that I’m painting seem almost organic compared to our new shiny internet based world.” As painting with oil on aluminum symbolizes change, Early’s work explores evolutions of painterly consciousness, finding hypnotic dreams in aesthetic polarities.

“Rainbow Ruins” will feature seven oil paintings on linen and aluminum with a series of small watercolors. With a stronger theme of nature than before, the paintings are unique in composition. As previous paintings have been composed from Early’s photo montages, the paintings of “Rainbow Ruins” are sourced from singular photos, as can be seen in the new works.

The opening reception for “Rainbow Ruins” takes place Saturday, November 10, 2012 at Corey Helford Gallery. The reception is open to the public, and the exhibition will be on view through December 8, 2012.