Austin Lee (born 1983) is an American artist based in New York. Lee's airbrush paintings often combine digital technologies with traditional media.[1] He also works in sculpture and video.

Early life and education

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Lee was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and raised in Philadelphia. He received an MFA in painting from Yale School of Art in 2013 and a BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art in 2006.

While a student at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Lee's studio doubled as a gallery space where he organized group and solo exhibitions to promote his artistic community.[2] After attending Yale for his MFA, Lee moved to New York in 2013.[2]

Work

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Lee once defined himself "a computer nerd as well as an artist."[1] The use of digital platforms and technologies offer him the opportunity to work against the tradition of painting: Lee transitioned from using Adobe Photoshop in his early work to adopting the Oculus Rift's virtual-reality program Medium as an imaginary studio.[3] He then transfers the V.R. drawings to the canvas through the use of the airbrush and the paintbrush.[3] As a result of this technique, the final paintings are very luminous and evoke both the light of a computer screen and the intense coloration of color field painting.[4] Lee investigates how different types of human gestures and touch – both digitally rendered and organic – can affect viewers.[5]

The artist sources his subjects from his daily life: people who attract his attention on the subway or the internet, scenes of ordinary activities, animals, and flowers.[6] Many of Lee's works evoke the emojis that have become part of everyday conversation.[6] However, by confronting the viewer with familiar images, his works explore the dichotomy of contemporary phenomena, such as social media, that carry both positive and negative effects.[7]

Further exploiting the possibilities offered by the world of V.R., Lee has also created a series of sculptures that give form to his digital drawings with the use of a 3D printer.[6] While at first glance, the subjects of these sculptures appear joyful and soothing, the distortions of forms attribute a disturbing note to their flashy cheerfulness.[4]

Lee's work entertains a dialogue with the work of artists from older generations.[8] While the effortlessness of Alex Katz's paintings has certainly influenced him, the use of new technology in David Hockney's iPad Drawings and Cindy Sherman's Instagram self-portraits likewise resonates in Lee's works.[8]

Art critic Will Heinrich at The New York Times affirmed, “Austin Lee's analog portraits of cyberspace are strangely fascinating."[9] Jeffrey Deitch has compared Lee's practice to Pop Art, “As Andy Warhol used photo silkscreens to connect painting with the image-making technologies of the 1960s, Lee fuses digital techniques with traditional painting and sculptural processes to create totally contemporary works of art."[4]

Exhibitions

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Solo exhibitions

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  • Human Nature, M WOODS Museum, Beijing, 2022
  • American Psyche, Austin Lee & Mark Thomas Gibson, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, 2021[10]
  • Paradise, Carl Kostyál in collaboration with KALEIDOSCOPE, Spazio Maiocchi, Milan, Italy, 2019[11]
  • Feels Good, Jeffrey Deitch, New York City, 2019[12][13]
  • Constant Joy, Mosaic Art Foundation, Istanbul, 2019[14]
  • Tomato Can, Peres Projects, Berlin, 2018[15][16]
  • Serious Works, Kaikai Kiki, Tokyo, 2017[17]
  • Light Paintings, BANK, Shanghai, 2016[18]
  • Anxiety, New Galerie, Paris, 2016[19]
  • Nothing Personal, Postmasters Gallery, New York, 2015[20]
  • NO FAIR, Isbrytaren, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, 2015[21]
  • Me Art, Kaleidoscope, Milan, 2015
  • Mixed Feelings, Carl Kostyál, London, 2014[22]
  • OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK, Postmasters Gallery, New York, 2014[23]

Selected group exhibitions

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  • Punch, Curated by Nina Chanel Abney, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, 2019[24]
  • Punch, Curated by Nina Chanel Abney, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, 2018[25]
  • Summer Show, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, 2017[26]
  • The Second Self, Peres Projects, Berlin, 2017[27]
  • For Pete’s Sake, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, 2016[28]
  • Full of Peril and Weirdness: Painting as a Universalism, M Woods, Beijing, 2015[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ogilvy, Flora Alexandra (December 28, 2016). "Of El Greco and Emoticons: An Interview With Artist Austin Lee". Artnet News. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Zuri, Afrodet (March 21, 2019). "Studio Visit: Austin Lee". Cool Hunting. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Indrisek, Scott (March 13, 2019). "Austin Lee's Feel-Good Art Is More Complicated Than It Seems". Garage Magazine. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "Austin Lee: Feels Good". Jeffrey Deitch. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  5. ^ Miao, Zijin (2016). "Austin Lee". Artforum.
  6. ^ a b c Zuri, Afrodet (March 21, 2019). "Studio visit: Austin Lee". Cool Hunting. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  7. ^ Tauer, Kristen (March 6, 2019). "Austin Lee Mounts Solo Exhibition 'Feels Good' at Jeffrey Deitch". WWD. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Indrisek, Scott (March 13, 2019). "Austin Lee's Feel-Good Art Is More Complicated Than It Seems". Garage Magazine. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  9. ^ Heinrich, Will (April 26, 2019). "Spring Gallery Guide: SoHo". The New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  10. ^ "American Psyche – Carl Kostyál". Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  11. ^ "Paradise – Carl Kostyál". Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  12. ^ Tauer, Kristen (6 March 2019). "Austin Lee Mounts Solo Exhibition 'Feels Good' at Jeffrey Deitch". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  13. ^ "Into: Austin Lee's Uncynical Day-Glo Sculptures at Jeffery Deitch". Interview. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  14. ^ "Austin Lee: Constant Joy". Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  15. ^ "INTERVIEW: Austin Lee, Tomato Can" (PDF). January 16, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  16. ^ Radley, Jack (February 16, 2017). "Exhibition // Austin Lee's 'Tomato Can' at Peres Projects".
  17. ^ Murakami, Takashi. "SERIOUS WORKS: AUSTIN LEE".
  18. ^ "AUSTIN LEE, "Light Paintings," BANK MABSOCIETY, Shanghai". Ran Dian.
  19. ^ "Austin Lee, Anxiety". New Galerie.
  20. ^ "AUSTIN LEE: Nothing Personal". Postmasters.
  21. ^ Andersson Åsman, Klara (March 14, 2015). "No Fair: Austin Lee at Isbrytaren". Radar.
  22. ^ "Austin Lee: Mixed Feelings". Carl Kostyál.
  23. ^ "AUSTIN LEE: OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK". Postmasters.
  24. ^ "Punch, Curated by Nina Chanel Abney, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles".
  25. ^ "Punch, Curated by Nina Chanel Abney, Jeffrey Deitch, New York".
  26. ^ "Call me – Carl Kostyál". Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  27. ^ "The Second Self".
  28. ^ "For Pete's Sake – Carl Kostyál". Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  29. ^ "Heart of the Tin Man".
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