Jennifer Lee (b. 1977) paints depictions of found photography often sourced from internet forums and online shopping sites. Her work is startlingly photo realistic, rendered in an intimate scale that invests familiar objects with a psychological depth. Lee portrays photographs with a sharp self-awareness, painting on thick jute burlap that degrades the mechanical process of photography while perversely simulating it. Lee, a semiotician in a visual sense, chooses her subjects for their availability as collective symbolic objects and deploys them in sequences that produce a kind of quasi syntactical language, hinting at meaning but ultimately resolving themselves into an intuitive poetry. Despite their visual swiftness, these paintings are painstakingly constructed in an effort to pull an image apart and then rebuild it. The slowness and transgression of this process is reminiscent of Warhol’s early silent films as well as Vija Celmin’s meditative renderings.

CV

Jennifer J. Lee
b. 1977, Lewiston, NY
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Education

2010: M.F.A., Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2009: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME
2000: B.F.A., Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
2000: École nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

Solo Exhibitions

2023: “Square Dance”, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2022: Solo Presentation with Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, the Independent Art Fair, New York, NY
2021: “Drop Ceiling”, The Sunday Painter, London, UK
2021: “Planet Caravan”, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2020: “Wallflowers”, Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles, CA
2019: “Cold Turkey”, Lulu/La Masion de Rendez-Vous, Brussels, Belgium
2019: “Day Trip”, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY

Two-Person Exhibitions

2018: “Nowhere”, print release and solo exhibition, Pressure Club, Philadelphia, PA
2017: “Far Out” , with Dana Powell, Castle Drone, Boston, MA
2017:” Reminiscing”, Pretty Days, curated by Gregory Kalliche and Harry Gould-Harvey, site specific, Henderson, NC
2015: “Jennifer Lee and Terry Young: New Works”, The Shop, Pittsburgh, PA

Group Exhibitions  

2024: “Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968″, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2023: “The 7th Wall”, Alice Amati Gallery, London, UK
2023: “Truth is Stranger”, Adler Beatty Gallery, New York, NY
2023: “Einstein on the Beach”, Super Dakota, Brussels, Belgium
2023: “Outdoors”, Nowhere, in Nothing, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2022:” About Painting II”, Galerie Rolando Anselmi, Rome, IT
2022: “Small Fixations”, Fondazione ICA Milano, Milan, IT
2022: “A Minor Constellation”, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022: “What is it Like to be a Bat”, ADZ, Lisbon, PT
2022: “87 Franklin Inaugural”, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2022: “Ecosystems of Relations”, Super Dakota, Brussels, BE
2021: “Halcyon and On and On”, Franz Kaka Gallery, Toronto, ON
2021: “La Mer imaginaire”, curated by Chris Sharp, Foundation Carmignac, Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles, France (catalogue)
2019: “Material Images”, Marvin Gardens, Brooklyn, NY
2019: “A Cloth Over a Birdcage”, Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles, CA
2019: “Double Play”, curated by Left Field Gallery with The Pit Presents, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA
2019: “Last Night I Wore a Costume”, curated by Lisa Cooley, LX Arts, New York, NY
2019:” The Views”, Fisher Parrish, Brooklyn, NY
2018: “Italicized Reality”, curated by Andy Cross, Sardine Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2018: “Sarah Nearer Fuller Flower”, curated by Joshua Bienko, C for Courtside, Knoxville, TN
2018: “💥🎢☀🏖🌈🐳🌋” , Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2018: “The Mushroom Show”, curated by Dan Gratz and Letha Wilson, Craryville, NY
2018: “Folded Canopy”, Central Park Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018: “FFFFFFiguration”, curated by Jonathan Chapline, Nevven Gallery, Göteberg, Sweden
2018: “Actually Weird”, curated by JJ Manford, Underdonk Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017: “Paper Cuts”, curated by Kristian Day, Tripp Gallery, London, UK
2017: “Far Out”, two-person exhibition with Dana Powell, Castle Drone, Boston, MA
2017: “Drawer, FlatFile”, Deli Gallery, Queens, NY
2017: “Garudge Sal”e, CANADA, New York, NY
2017: “Portals”, curated by Ashley Garrett and Anna Ortiz, Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017: “The Cactus Show”, Curated by Dan Gratz and Letha Wilson, Craryville, NY
2017: The Middler Art Fair, The Middler, Queens, NY
2016: “Stone Soup Nasty”, Orgy Park, Brooklyn, NY
2016: “From the Roota to the Toota”, Good Enough Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2016: “RISE”, curated by Lynn Sullivan, Four Letter Word Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2016: “The Office”, with 2MF, The Knockdown Center, Queens, NY
2016: “On the Fence”, curated by Craig Poor Monteith and Steve Mykietyn, Casual Art Fair, New York
2016: “Super Sketchy”, with Alleyoop Projects, DCTV, New York, NY
2016: “Waze of Seething”, with Alexander Barton, GCA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016: “Blur (Life’s a Gas)”, Building 32 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015: “Exchange”, Visual Center for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland
2013: “Santa’s Car Key Party”, Orgy Park, Brooklyn, NY
2013: “December’s Letters”, Orgy Park, Brooklyn, NY
2012: “Kelly’s Eye Club”, Orgy Park, Brooklyn, NY
2012: “Bushwick Blackout”, The Shirey, Brooklyn, NY
2012: “BÄTTERKINDEN”, curated by Dan Levenson, Triangle Artists Workshop, Brooklyn, NY
2008: “Gestures”, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA