Cheryl Kelley

Her recent work gets the sex appeal right but also nails the grandeur of auto shows, where some of the world’s fastest objects sit still under lights.

2016 "Land Escapes," Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY

2015 "Stainless Steel: A Group Exhibition of Reflective Works in 3 Dimensions," Bernarducci·Meisel Gallery, New York, NY

2015 "The Art of Collecting," Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI

2014 "Everybody Needs a Hero!" Scott Richards Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA

2014 "Winter White," Bernarducci·Meisel Gallery, New York, NY

2014 "Photorealism in a Digital Age II" Bernarducci·Meisel Gallery, New York, NY

2014 "Photorealism: The Everyday Illuminated" Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

2013 "Cheryl Kelley: Detailed," Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

2013 "Summer Sights: A Gallery Survey Exhibition," Bernarducci·Meisel Gallery, New York, NY

2013 “Photorealism Revisited,” Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK

2013 “Route 66,” Skidmore Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA

2013 "Roadster Reflections." American Art Collector, edited by Joshua Rose, Issue #89. March.

2010 "Drive," David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI

2010 "Metal Beauty." American Art Collector, edited by Joshua Rose, Issue #61. November.

Cheryl Kelley is an American painter known for her photorealism, especially her paintings of classic and muscle cars. Her work has been featured on the cover of Harper's Magazine and can be seen at the Scott Richards Contemporary Art gallery in San Francisco, California, the Bernarducci·Meisel Gallery in New York City, New York, and the Seven Bridges Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2009 and 2011 she was a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize, and in 2012 she received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. The art collectors' resource Artsy considers her one of ten "Masters of Photorealism".

Kelley gained public attention in 2009 as a finalist for the Hunting Art Prize. In August 2009, her work was featured on the cover of Harper's Magazine. Shortly afterward, her work was chosen by Frank Bernarducci, a leading authority on photorealism, for exhibition at the Bernarducci·Meisel Gallery, which he co-founded with Louis K. Meisel. Los Angeles gallery Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art includes her among a group of "revered and influential" photorealists, including John Baeder, Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Robert Cottingham, Richard Estes, Gus Heinze, Ralph Goings, Daniel Green, and Elizabeth Patterson. In 2013, Artsy included her on its list of ten "Masters of Photorealism," along with founding photorealists Richard Estes and Robert Cottingham.

2009 "Photorealism: A Closer Look," Scott Richards Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA

2009 “Endless Summer Exhibition,” Lyons Weir Gallery, New York, NY

2009 “Heavy Metal.” American Art Collector, edited by Joshua Rose, Issue #47. September.

2009 "Illustration: Cadillac (detail)," Harper's Magazine, Front Cover. August.

2008 “Fotofest,” New Gallery, Houston, TX

2008 "Summer Salon: Works on Paper" Lyons Wier Ortt Contemporary Art, New York, NY

2008 Oranges & Sardines: Summer 2008, by David Krump, Andy Nicholson, Meghan Punschke, and Didi Melendez. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

2008 New American Paintings: Juried Exhibitions in Print, Western Edition, Issue #78. Juror: Andrea Karnes, Curator, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX.

2007 "High and Dry Smoke and Fog" Phantom Galleries LA Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA

2007 Bridge Art Fair, Art Murmur Gallery, Miami, FL

2005 Auto Show, The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY

2005 New American Paintings: Juried Exhibitions in Print, Western Edition, Issue #60. Juror: Fereshteh Daftari, Former Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.

Kelley began her career as an abstract expressionist but is recognized chiefly as a photorealist or hyperrealist. In 2003, she began to make paintings of cars using oil on canvas, saying she was drawn by the abstract quality of reflections off the cars' curved surfaces. Around 2008, she began to use oil on aluminum panels. Like traditional photorealists, Kelley bases her paintings on photographs, in this case taken mostly at car shows and automobile museums. However, her technique does not rely strictly on the "mechanical" transfer of photographic images to canvas.

2003 "Celebration of Contemporary Art," The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, The Woodlands, TX

2001 "Sultry," Houston Community College, Houston, TX

Cheryl Kelley was born in Houston, Texas in 1968. She graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston in 1987 and attended the University of Houston. She now lives in Northern California.