"Hurry, it's on now. New York's Flowers gallery is presenting Aleah Chapin's first solo show. As a continuation of her "Aunties Project," which began in the fall of 2011, this series of paintings examines Chapin's own personal history and the people who have shaped it. The exhibition will run from January 18th through February 23rd, 2013, with an opening reception on Thursday, January 17th, 2013, 6-8pm.

Aleah, who graduated in art from Cornish in 2008 with a B.F.A., won the this year's prestigious BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London for her painting Auntie (2012). How prestigious is the award? Paul Emsley, who painted the official portrait of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, that's been making big news of late, won the prize in 2007. The National Portrait Gallery is the home of British portraits that date back to the Renaissance.

Flowers says of her paintings in the show: "Chapin's controlled use of color creates an ethereal space replete with corporeal details and unaffected texture. The point of focus on each canvas gently mandates deference to the subjects; while immediate, a respectful gaze is established through technique. … Whereas her early nudes tended to leave the background neutral, with this collection of works Chapin comes to a place of synthesis between the flesh of the body and the fabric of the landscape. She captures the acute individuality of freckles on skin-or veins on a rock. The process of painting subjects whom she has known from birth allows her, and the viewer, a glimpse into the journey through life that each body has taken. The landscapes, at once real and fantastical, reflect the same contained and perfect chaos found on the skin."

Aleah Chapin is also the recipient of several other awards besides the BP Portrait Award,  including the Posey Foundation Scholarship, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and a Postgraduate Fellowship from the New York Academy of Art, where she received her master's degree. She lives and works in New York."

www.cornish.edu