"...and Smell the Roses" - An E.LEE Performance Art Piece

Part of my mission in creating shows is to expose people to art that inspires me. Over the past few years I’ve been introduced to contemporary dance. I didn’t feel I understood it at first, but once I let it just wash over me and evaluate how it was making me feel, it impacted me profoundly. These experiences have been enriching in my life and I’ve been excited to share it with others.

Hubbard Street Dance was bringing an amazing choreographer, Jenna Pollack, to Chicago to work with their Hubbard Street Professional Program Dancers for a week. Jenna contacted me to see if we could collaborate on a piece. Did I have any ideas for a show that would incorporate a performance element?

Jenna and I during rehearsals (photo by Peter Hinsdale)

I had been wanting to make a show that looked like a cartoon version of a museum setting, but have the paintings destroyed (look as though they had been cut out or stolen). This seemed like the perfect opportunity. We could create a heist narrative with the dancers as thieves, using their performance as a “diversion”.

Here is the trailer for the event:
Video by Sam Cejtin + Ben Hood, music by Peace Pilgrim

A close up of the paintings: a before / after, and the gnashing teeth of Picasso

Some people asked why all the paintings except the cat killing the bird were “stolen”. Talking about it I realized, just as the cat was tearing the bird’s heart out, so had the heart been torn out of the paintings. The subject of each piece, the meaning, the life had been replaced with an emptiness. And for some reason I find that emptiness intriguing and somehow beautiful. What is a painting with no content? I’m not sure yet, but it’s something I definitely need to explore.

After the heist, the dancers were gone. The audience untied Ben (the security guard) and me. I directed everyone to head to a pub down the street. When people arrived they were handed a rose and told that it was the end of the show. If they would like they could join the dancers for a drink or something to eat. At the tables were flower arrangements of the cut out paintings. It was one of my favorite parts, to come sit with the audience and the dancers and talk about everyone’s experience.
(Flowers and vase assistance by Jeffery Barber of “Bulb and Thistle”)

A few extended moments and behind the scenes (shot by Peter Hinsdale):

A huge thank you to Jenna Pollack for being my partner in crime on this. It was ambitious to mix contemporary dance with a gallery show, inside of a narrative asking for audience participation.
But I think we pulled it off... and I hope it’s not our last!

Also, thank you to the amazing HS Pro dancers, Ben Hood, Malora and Bill Pollack, Local Wiring Co. for installing the security cameras, Chicago Art Department, Alexandra Wells, Peter Hinsdale, Jeffrey Barber, Peace Pilgrim, and Sam Cejtin for all of their help and support.
This couldn’t have happened without all of you!

Time-lapse video of "Center Stage"

Six days of painting condensed down into a one minute time-lapse. This is a 25 x 60ft mural in downtown Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Shot and edited by Ben Hood
Music by Floyd A Davis IV

"Center Stage" - downtown Spring Green Wisconsin (Oct 2018)

The Gard Theater // Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Spring Green is a quaint small town. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a number of times the past few years to see friends. Every time I go, I’m taken aback by the beauty of the landscape.

Spring Green is also the location of Frank Lloyd Wright’s personal home / school of architecture, and of American Players Theater. People come from near and far to participate in and enjoy the arts here.

I was amazed at how many wonderful people I met. This mural was a project facilitated by an entire community coming together. Shannon Porter from Wilson Creek Pottery is the one that organized it all: getting the wall, the grant, the paint, the lift, and doing all the advertising every step of the way. She's a bit of a miracle worker. Her and Ash housed my team for the week.

Every name on the list pictured above donated supplies or money for the mural's creation.

Katie Wyer, an amazing chef from @largebatchscratch and @arcadiabooks provided everyone with delicious food every day. The 5 pounds I gained was well worth it. 

I consider myself very lucky to have had Ben Hood there from beginning to end to help paint and run all the media, and Larysa Pyatnochko able to drive up from Chicago two weekends in a row to lend a hand.

Spring Green allowed me creative freedom to make a mural that embodied my experience of the town. I hope the piece brings joy to the inhabitants and visitors for years to come. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity :)

A beautiful long-form interview with "This Fearless Life"

“What follows is... an exploration into what it means to have a career as an artist, to discover your passion and pursue it relentlessly... to do that thing for no other reason than you know you have to or a part of you will die.”

Link to the article here

photo by Peter Hinsdale

An Interview with Voyage Chicago:

Voyage Chicago has deemed me a "Thought-Provoker". Read the interview here

photo by Peter Hinsdale

Behind the Scenes: "Out of the Frame" - A Collaborative event with Hubbard Street Dance

The vision for "Out of the Frame" began with the idea of making paintings literally come to life. Having gone to a number of Hubbard Street Dance performances, I was excited by the idea of collaborating to make this a reality. 

I spoke with the head of Hubbard, Glenn Edgerton, (March of 2018) and was over the moon that he liked the idea. Looking through their calendar, they only had one open week the whole year. The dancers could work to develop a site specific piece Aug 6-9 and then we could have the show the 10th (2nd Friday in Pilsen). 

In April I brought a cardboard frame and asked Peter Hinsdale to come take photos so I'd have good references from which to paint. The only instructions I gave the dancers were to go through the opening of the frame in some way, try to stay within the outside edge, and hide their faces as much as possible. The rest was up to the dancers... and they completely exceeded my expectations. Peter took nearly 1300 photos over a 2 hour period. 

The amount of useable photos was a bit overwhelming. Getting it down to 10 or less for the show was quite a challenge. Creating the paintings took many steps: formatting the pieces in the computer, printing off stencils, cutting them by hand. Next I needed to start spray painting the frames onto wood panels.

layer 3

layer 4

layer 5

Then the frames needed to be masked off in order to paint the dancers. I started with the background, a middle tone for the skin, 2 layers of highlights, 2 layers of shadows, and ending with a day of hand painting the more intricate details.

We were very lucky to be able to partner with the Chicago Art Department in Pilsen for the venue. They have a beautiful space with a lot of history and character. Mike Nourse and Carris Adams were gracious in allowing us time and access to the space the entire week. I gave the dancers a very loose framework. I wanted them in all black or all white outfits (like in the paintings), to create tension in pairs throughout, and to culminate with all 6 of them moving together as one. The dancers took it from there. Rena Butler was the lead and everyone readily contributed. It was a beautiful process to see unfold over the 4 days. 

The performances Aug 10th were moving and brilliant. I couldn't have been happier with the experience. I need to thank:
Glenn Edgerton, Carris Adams and Mike Nourse for coordinating the evening.
To the dancers: Rena Butler, Craig Black, Kellie Epperheimer, Kevin Shannon, Connie Shiau, and Myles Lavallee, thank you for making this idea truly come to life!
Ben Hood for helping me every step of the way. 
Peter Hinsdale for capturing everything.

I truly hope it's not our last collaboration :)

photos curtesy of Peter Hinsdale and Mike Nourse

Behind the Scenes - "All That Glitters" E.LEE solo show - June 2018

The work is up. The scene is set. Six months in the making for a one night event.

In December 2017 I was asked by a gallery to show at Art Basel in Basel Switzerland (June 2018). Because it is imperative to me that my work speak to its environment, my brain went into overdrive to come up with the perfect concept for the biggest art fair in the world. 

Imagining millionaires walking past my work evaluating it’s worth, my solution was to create an installation of paintings and functional sculptures caricaturing just how valuable they were. The vision of a cartoon gold nugget on a tiny shelf swimming in negative space became my jumping-off point. 

E.LEE - "Gold Nugget on a Shelf" - 32" x 48" Spray paint and acrylic on aluminum panel

I didn't want to just put paintings on a wall. I wanted to create a world with which the viewer could interact. It would feel like an expensive beautiful home with a twist. I found furniture maker Mark Roe (of The Furniture Shop) to help me create a chair with exaggerated proportions. A functional piece of art that exuded power but felt as though it belonged in a cartoon. I painted the legs a shiny graphic gold.   

I worked with Ashley Pfannenstiel from Wilson Creek Pottery to help me create a functional pot I could put flowers in. I gave her a snapshot of a scene from DuckTales as a reference. She made "The Cracked Pot Trophy" come to life. It received my cartoon gold treatment as well.

Then in May I received a call from the gallery. The co-owner was ill and had been in and out of the hospital. They needed to pull out of the show. I was fairly devastated. It took me a few days to regroup, but with the concept completely fleshed out and the work nearly finished, I had to figure out a new place to show.   

With the help of quite a few friends, I transformed my studio into a gallery space fit for the work. It needed a beautifully trimmed set of walls and quite a bit of paint. But I was excited to present a new body of work to Chicago. 

The outside of the studio needed painting as well. We took it from beige and grey to a white canvas I could do a street piece on "Elevating the Arts": 

The change in venue from Art Basel to my studio in Chicago warranted a second look at the context. I decided to add balloons to the installation to give it more warmth and make it lighter (pun intended). I sought out the expertise of Dana Fisher at Flax Art and Frame to help make my balloon prints float, and conceal my hidden safes behind paintings that looked like wall panels.  

I've become obsessed with creating paintings as objects or spaces that play with your perceptions and blur the line between reality and imagination. The whole show is setting up the world I'll be playing within over the next few years. Symbols that guide you toward a narrative, objects that make you smile or surprise you. 
 
The show included over 20 original paintings, functional sculptures and 2 limited edition prints. I hope all my time and effort engaged those that took the time to see it. 

"According to James Joyce, epiphanies have to do with the aesthetic experience.
It does not move you to want to possess it (this is pornography).
It does not move you to judge or reject it (this is social criticism).
It is beholding an object, putting a frame around it and seeing it as one thing. To see how the part speaks to the whole and to the other parts. This is the essential aesthetic factor: rhythm.
When a fortunate rhythm has been struck by the artist there is a radiance. In this radiance one can feel transcendence. "

Above is an excerpt from a Joseph Campbell interview. My only hope is that the viewer can feel a bit of rhythm in my work and in this show.

Cheers :)
E.LEE

The Role of an Artist

(photo taken in Amsterdam while I was painting "Remorse" in 2016)

I've been listening to a lot of Jordan Peterson lectures while I cut stencils or work on pieces in the computer as of late. He's amazingly insightful and I feel I understand myself and my motivations better the more I hear him speak.

He talks a lot about how life is suffering, and each of us needs to find something to do with our lives that makes that suffering bearable. For me, a person very high in trait openness, I've found I always need to be creating to feel excited about my life. The first series of paintings I created and put out into the world depicted superheroes suffering. At the time it was unknown to me why I needed to make them. I simply felt compelled to and followed a path into the unknown. Now that I've had years to reflect on it, I realize seeing idealized versions of ourselves going through pain is a symbol and a connection point for all of us. Their suffering represents all of our suffering, and it's the foundation of all of our stories.  

He has also said that "beauty is a pathway toward God. That a real piece of art opens your eyes to the domain of the transcendent." Those two sentences are really hard for me to get my head around. But, I think he's saying we have a concrete truth of our daily lives that is individual to us, and then there's the meta-truth of all of our lives. We see that meta-truth in our stories, our art, our music. And we all need these windows because we are so finite and limited. Over time some art is deemed sacred because the unknown shines through it in an articulated form. That is the role of an artist... to put a foot out into the unknown and make sense of it.

ART [WRK] Event with Tony Cartel

A video of Tony Cartel highlighting an event we had at my studio a few months back. A bit of him performing live along with DJ Toure providing the sounds. 

His next performance is April 5th in Chicago @ the Wire (8-11pm)

"Walking Away" - A LYFT Chicago street art tour (Nov 2017)

An interactive piece found at 2039 W. North Ave in Chicago. It's an honor to be a part of a Lyft street art tour, in which they'll be offering free rides to pieces they're commissioning all over the city. Be on the lookout for the dates...       

I conceived of this work when I was transitioning from coaching youth soccer to painting full time. I'd done both part-time for years. As more opportunities came for art, I found all of my thoughts and energy directed toward painting. I realized I couldn't perform either at a high level when trying to do both. It was clear I had to make a change... it was time to direct all of my attention toward painting and move on from a career I had loved for over a decade.  

That decision was made over a year ago. It's taken a while to find the right alley for the piece. The day after I wandered past this space and realized it would be perfect, Lyft contacted me to be a part of their tour. They loved the idea. Things rarely come together so effortlessly.