An exhibition of Jivan Lee’s most recent work will be shown at Altamira Fine Art in Jackson, Wyoming, from September 19 through October 7. Seasonality continues his fascination with the infinity of subtle changes that occur in an often-visited landscape. With a master’s degree in environmental policy and an earlier career working on sustainable communities, he now immerses himself physically in the landscape where, he says, “the act of painting is centered in a bodily felt experience of each place.” His paintings suggest that beyond (or within) the physicality of the place and his scientific awareness of it, there is an awareness of the ineffable, the force that cycles the earth through the seasons throughout time.
Downstream Tree Spring #1 (Spring Day), oil on panel, 48 x 48"
Painting on location in all seasons, he describes “having my body as an instrument through which I get the sensation of a place. My attention and awareness are in a flow state.” Fully immersed in that feeling of energized focus, he “animates the work with a lot more energy. What I find most engaging is that I’m steeped in the sensation of the space. The reason I’m out making art relates to the sensation of being alive. Something arises out of the direct contact with the scene. It’s the reason I’m out painting, not just out hiking.”
Lee continues, “I’m in a positive and negative space. The positive space is the painting and the subject. The negative space is all that’s around it—that gives the painting meaning. Being in the landscape you become a participant in the dynamics of the day. Sitting in the sun you think of water and as storm clouds begin to arise there is the promise of rain.
Riverbends Spring #1 (Smoky Sundown), oil on panel, 30 x 30"
“When I go out in the landscape at a certain point in the day, I dive in at that one moment. I show up and a feeling of being in relationship develops. I’m in direct contact with the subject and the encompassing experience of it. There’s a sense of telling the story of a landscape. It’s an infinite story and the painting is a little snippet.”
Lee can be seen in the landscape around Taos, New Mexico, with his large-scale canvases, moving paint around with “big brushes and silicone spatulas to add and subtract thick layers of impasto, recording the story of decisions made and remade in response to each evolving day.”
Downstream Tree Winter #2 (Sundown), oil on panel, 48 x 48"
His 48-inch square panels depicting the Rio Grande in different seasons, weather conditions and times of day will be featured in Seasonality. Downstream Tree Winter #2 (Sundown) is a moment in time, ice having formed along the banks of the river and the warm light of the setting sun suggesting not only a new day, but the coming of spring. An artists reception will be held September 23, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. —
Altamira Fine Art 172 Center Street, Suite #100 • Jackson, WY 83001 • (307) 739-4700 www.altamiraart.com
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