Cheryl Kelley's hyper-real super cars are a chromey Friday treat

Date
29 March 2013

Texan painter Cheryl Kelley can’t get enough of chrome and the iridescent paintwork that coats the world’s fastest cars. Since childhood, she’s been obsessed with beautiful motor vehicles and has made it her life’s work to render them with her own bare hands and rich, thick layers of oil paint. “I played in the dirt with Hot Wheels cars when I was a small child and was fascinated by their curves. Now I own a ’77 ’Vettte,” she says.

Cheryl’s work deals with the idea of cars as art and is motivated by the belief that we’ve forgotten the simple, basic pleasure of driving fast for the sake of it. “We’re losing the joy of driving, the joy of big engine cars for speed’s sake. People choose cars for gas mileage or cargo space. It’s just boring.” I don’t even have a driving licence but I’m prepared to agree with Cheryl if it means getting behind the wheel of one of these glistening hyper-real masterpieces.

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Cheryl Kelley: Preacher

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Cheryl Kelley: Yellow Delahaye

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Cheryl Kelley: Corvette with Big Yellow Taxi

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Cheryl Kelley: Purple Cadillac

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Cheryl Kelley: Orange Cadillac

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Cheryl Kelley: Roadmaster

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Cheryl Kelley: Vintage Chevy

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Cheryl Kelley: Red Corvette

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About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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