Helen Rae at Tierra Del Sol Gallery

Tierra del Sol is a nonprofit that empowers people with developmental disabilities through workforce, career, and arts development. Their Chinatown gallery outpost specifically features artists who work in the center’s art studio.

Currently on view is a new exhibition of colored pencil drawings by the artist Helen Rae. The drawings, which take fashion ads as their source material, are masterfully composed. As Rae presses colored pencil to paper, she re-interprets the haute couture women she depicts, adding intricately striated patterns. She widens faces, broadens shoulders, elongates necks, and embellishes clothing. Through her bold colors, cubist compositions, and intricate linework, Rae infuses each subject with a deep and pensive emotion that seems to connect directly with the viewer — an intensity not often found when flipping through the latest issue of Vogue.