RAIR | 2008-09

Kelli Vance

Kelli Vance is an artist and affiliate professor at the University of Houston. She relocated back to Texas after spending four years in Los Angeles where she taught at Long Beach City College and prior to that, completed the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program in New Mexico. She has had numerous solo and group shows in cities throughout the United States, including Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and in New Mexico. Kelli earned her BFA in painting and drawing from the University of North Texas in Denton and completed her MFA at the University of Houston in 2008. She is represented by McClain Gallery in Houston and Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas.

http://www.kellivancestudio.com

Roswell Museum and Art Center

Rair exhibition •Kelli Vance  “Stop Looking at me" • June 27 - August 2, 2009

Kelli Vance's current body of work examines the nature of women's relationships to themselves and other women, and behavioral prescripts mandated by society. Her paintings are manifestations of the complexities and un-certainties surrounding identity and the psychological upheaval that can result.

The women in Vance's depicted environments appear to be part of an unfolding drama that quotes cinematic and literal worlds where feelings of agitation and displacement are revealed in various guises. By addressing gender politics and the locations of power, Vance magnifies the contradictions that exist within these relationships and creates imagery that can be simultaneously attractive and alienating, arousing and anxiety-producing.

Born in Garland, Texas, Vance received her BFA degree from the University of North Texas and an MFA degree from the University of Houston. She has exhibited throughout Texas and is currently represented by McClain Gallery in Houston.

Caroline Brooks, Assistant Director, RMAC