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Jivan Lee ABOUT TIME July 22 - August 22, 2022
Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com cover: Sundown at the Big View #1 (detail), 2022, Oil on panel, 72 x 40 in
JIVAN LEE | ABOUT TIME Jivan Lee has a growing reputation as a leading figure of contemporary landscape painting, known for his dynamic sense of color, his textural application of paint, and for his reflective, cerebral approach to his subject. In his newest exhibition, Lee unveils a body of recent paintings created onsite from direct observation of the landscape, conveying time and change on a variety of scales as the land transforms before him. Based in Taos, Lee incites in his viewers a visceral connection with the landscape, which he achieves through a highly physical plein air painting process. Whether in conveying the shifting hues of backlit clouds, or of a river valley set ablaze in sunlight, Lee communicates the feeling of being surrounded by the forces of nature—in part by emphasizing the sheer physical nature of his work. Rather than blending his brushstrokes together, Lee allows his gestural marks to remain as sculptural as possible, highlighting them as unexpected, spontaneous sources of pattern or rhythm. The surface of a Jivan Lee painting thus becomes an energetic terrain all its own, brimming with fluid activity reminiscent at times of action painting. In all of his works, Lee’s onsite process requires him to paint the land as it changes before him—the sunrise as it begins to illuminate the earth in the morning, or an afternoon storm as it gathers strength and then unloads or dissipates. Even beyond the daily shifts of light, weather, or atmosphere, Lee’s paintings remind his viewers of the way the land exists as an accumulation of momentary shifts that take place over thousands of years: the way a river carves a valley, or in the slow, majestic formation of mountains. As the hours, days, and even seasons change, Lee’s art ultimately stresses the ways that time and the various forces of nature and humanity relate and affect each other. The overall feeling of activity and motion within his work suggests that his canvases are but snapshots of a dynamic, ceaseless metamorphosis. More prominent than ever in Lee’s recent paintings is the presence of houses and other manmade structures, which he enfolds in sprawling fields of brush and grass or at the foot of Taos Mountain. He conveys these elements as subject to the same set of forces as anything else in the landscape, dwarfed by the surrounding space, earth, weather, and light. Another series of paintings included in About Time are a dazzling set of vertical works that focus on another overly familiar landscape subject—the sunset.
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In these and other works in this exhibition, Lee finds himself considering more deeply the underlying reasons why we find beauty in the landscape—and what other unexpected functions beauty might provide for us. “We see the sunset as being a kind of pinnacle of natural beauty,” Lee muses. “But when the sun goes down, everything releases, everything changes; it’s a time to find shelter.” By training his viewers’ eyes on these icons and idioms of beauty in the landscape, Lee’s work plumbs the reasons why we turn to nature in search of meaning. Lee is originally from Woodstock NY, and studied painting at Bard College. His paintings have been exhibited at museums and educational institutions across the country, and featured in reviews and articles in publications such as Western Art & Architecture, Fine Art Connoisseur, Southwest Art, American Art Collector, and Plein Air Magazine.
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Night Lights, 2022 Oil on panel, 12" x 12" SOLD
Riverbends - Spring Morning, 2022 Oil on linen, 52" x 142" 4
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Storm Over the Farm, 2022 Oil on panel, 40" x 60" 6
Riverbends - Winter Sunset, 2022 Oil on panel, 48" x 72" 7
Downstream Tree - Spring #2 (Midday Reflection), 2022 Oil on panel, 72" x 96" 8
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The House in the Sage - Spring Storm, 2022 Oil on panel, 60" x 48" 10
The Farm - Spring Storm, 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 30" 11
The House in the Sage - Winter Storm (Diptych), 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 72.5" 12
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Sundown at the Big View, 2022 Oil on panel, 60" x 48"
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Downstream Tree - Spring #3 (Rafters), 2022 Oil on panel, 48" x 48" 16
Downstream Tree - Winter #2 (Sundown), 2022 Oil on panel, 48" x 48" 17
Downstream Tree - Winter #5 (In the Snow), 2022 Oil on panel, 48" x 48" 18
Downstream Tree - Fall #2 (After Sunrise), 2021 Oil on panel, 48" x 48" 19
Riverbends - Fall #7 (Sunrise Snow), 2022 Oil on panel, 30" x 30" 20
Riverbends - Spring #3 (Morning), 2022 Oil on panel, 30" x 30" 21
Riverbends - Spring #4 (Sunset), 2022 Oil on panel, 30" x 30" SOLD 22
Riverbends - Spring #5 (Smoky Night), 2022 Oil on panel, 30" x 30" 23
Clouds Over the Farm, 2022 Oil on panel, 60" x 40" 24
Sunset #1, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" 25
Sunset at the Big View, 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 30" 26
Sundown at the Big View #1, 2022 Oil on panel, 72" x 40" 27
Twelve Sundowns - #1, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" 28
Twelve Sundowns - #2, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" 29
Twelve Sundowns - #3, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" 30
Twelve Sundowns - #4, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" SOLD 31
Twelve Sundowns - #7, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" 32
Twelve Sundowns - #8, 2022 Oil on panel, 24" x 18" 33
The House in the Sage - Sunset, 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 48" 34
The House in the Sage - Starry Night, 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 48" 35
The House in the Sage - Smoky Moonrise, 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 48" 36
The House in the Sage - Snow, 2022 Oil on panel, 36" x 48" 37
10,000 Mountains - Summer #1, 2021 Oil on panel, 14" x 11"
10,000 Mountains Oil on pane 38
- Sunrise #2, 2022 el, 14" x 11"
10,000 Mountains - Fall Sunset, 2022 Oil on panel, 14" x 11" 39
Stars Over the Houses, 2022 Oil on panel, 60" x 40"
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Jivan Lee Jivan Lee’s oil paintings explore the raw material of paint to create images and emotional response. Based in Santa Fe and Taos, Lee is inspired by the landscape and artists of the southwest. He works on-site from direct observation and response to the physicality of the natural environment. His work is distinguished by thick brush strokes and a tactile, sculptural quality, applying paint with spatulas, brushes paper towels, bare hands, and even dirt. Lee is originally from Woodstock NY, and studied painting at Bard College. His paintings have been exhibited nationally at museums and educational institutions and covered in publications such as Western Art Collector (feature article), Fine Art Connoisseur, The Denver Post, Southwest Art (feature article), Phoenix Home & Garden (feature article), Two Coats of Paint, Art Business News, and Plein Air Magazine.
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Photo Courtesy of the Jivan Lee
Railyard Arts District | 1613 Paseo de Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | 505.988.3250 www.lewallengalleries.com | contact@lewallengalleries.com © 2022 LewAllen Contemporary, LLC Artwork © Jivan Lee