We’re pleased to announce the opening of Drop Ceiling, the first solo exhibition in London by New York based artist Jennifer J. Lee
Lee makes intimate quasi-photorealistic paintings on jute. Her subjects are sourced through extensive internet searches which Lee has described as a metaphorical road trip for observational painting. Working in series the resulting images that Lee lands on are often disparate; in Drop Ceiling a log cabin, gorilla skull, wire mesh fence, a city scape and lettuce leaves hover next to one another on a coequal plane. Despite the seemingly expansive possibilities in the Lee’s selection process and the resulting groupings there is the sense of a digital claustrophobia and banality captured here; for every image of a log cabin that exists we know there’s an endless stream of thumbnails proliferating countless others.
Once Lee has isolated the image from the digital realm a further transformation takes place through her meticulous painting process. The coarse, fibrous surface of the jute forces the image into a low resolution rendering. The work compels a closeness and when in front of each painting the inherent labour and endurance of constructing an image with oil on such a repellent, unforgiving surface is visible. We are left with an image in a molecular sense, the surface becoming multi-dimensional allowing us to feel with our eyes.
Jennifer J. Lee (b.1977) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2009. Recent solo exhibitions include Planet Caravan, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, 2021; Wallflowers, Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles, 2020; Cold Turkey, La Maison de Rendez-Vous with lulu, Brussels, 2019; Day Trip at Klaus von Nichtssagend gallery, New York, 2019; and Nowhere, print release and solo exhibition, Pressure Club, Philadelphia, 2018 Recent group exhibitions include, Halcyon and On and On, Franz Kaka Gallery, Toronto, 2021; La Mer imaginaire, Fondation Carmignac, Paris, 2021; A Cloth Over a Birdcage, Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles, 2019; Double Play, The Pit with Leftfield Gallery, Los Angeles, 2019; Last Night I Wore a Costume, curated by Lisa Cooley, LX Gallery, New York, 2019.