Ray Donley was born in Austin, Texas, in 1950. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, graduating summa cum laude in 1981. He completed his master's degree in art history with particular focus on Dutch and Spanish baroque art.Donley is what is known as a New Old Master, newly uncovering the subtleties and mysteries of old style oil painting method for a modern audience. He masters oil painting, using chiaroscuro to define the features of his models. And while, he may be getting his inspiration from the Great Masters from the XVIIth century, he has created his very own...very contemporary world with his series Los Bien Perdidos (the profoundly lost ones).The expressions of his fictional subjects are enigmatic and ambiguous. The absence of movement is noticeable in all the paintings. They are frozen for eternity, yet they will be as relevant tomorrow as they were yesterday. They are forever provoking, disturbing and fascinating.