No Way Home : Mercedes Helnwein

Since 2003, Mercedes Helnwein - born in Vienna, and based in Los Angeles and Ireland - has been working her way through the L.A. art scene, attracting a strong following and positive critical reception. No Way Home spans 7 years of her visual imagery in pastels, paint, pencil and film stills and includes photographs of the artist in her studio. Inspired at an early age by the blues, Helnwein's portraits - primarily of women - exude a southern gothic melancholy, and according to the artist, contrast the idyllic versus dark, in much of American culture. Her drawings in pencil play on the fine art technique of chiaroscuro, the contrast of light and dark. Helnwein's female protagonists are imperfect, arresting, beautiful, and mysterious women fitted in retro attire.