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Paul Lee

Paul Lee (b. 1974, London) is a New York-based sculptor, collagist, and video artist who crafts assemblages from used domestic and everyday objects, including dyed terry cloth towels, tambourines, and empty soda cans. Lee’s evolving visual language exploits universally understood relationships between use and form. By transforming familiar materials into colorful abstractions, Lee subverts their function and draws out their implicit connection to the human body. He considers these accouterments to be the abstracted “portraits” of the person who used them: the synthesis of “an object-body and an image-mind.”

His recent exhibitions include JTT Gallery, New York (2021); Adams and Ollman, Portland, Oregon (2021); Halsey Mckay Gallery, East Hampton (2020); Karma, New York (2019); David Shelton Gallery, Houston (2018); Modern Art, London (2018); Michael Lett, New Zealand (2017); Jeffrey Stark, New York (2016); Maccarone, Los Angeles (2016); Untilthen, Paris (2015); and University of the Arts, Philadelphia (2015). Paul Lee’s work is represented in the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas; Dallas Museum of Art; Government Art Collection (GAC), United Kingdom; M+, Hong Kong; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; and San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas, among others.

Lee’s work is currently on view in Paul Lee and Olivier Mosset at Tyler Wood Gallery, New York.

Single work, Paul Lee

Born 1974, London
Lives and works in New York

EDUCATION

1997

BFA, Winchester School of Art, Winchester, United Kingdom
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, United Kingdom

SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2023

Tyler Wood Gallery, New York, Paul Lee and Olivier Mosset

2022

Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand, Desert Flowers

2021

Adams and Ollman, Portland, Oregon, Tambourine Heart

2020

David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Divided

2019

Karma, New York, I see with my body now

2018

David Shelton Gallery, Houston, In My Room
Stuart Shave Modern Art, London, On My Way To You Now

2017

Michael Lett, Auckland, Pestle

2016

Jeffrey Stark, New York, Centre
Maccarone, Los Angeles, Layers for a Brain Corner

2015

Untilthen Gallery, Paris, On The Beach In The Dark
Stuart Shave / Modern Art, London, Nocturnal, seeing in the dark, a path of light that does not cross others
Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery of the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Paul Lee

2014

Maccarone, New York, Matinee
39 Great Jones, New York, Paul Lee

2013

Maccarone, New York, Emerald
Michael Lett, Auckland, Active Light

2011

Modern Art, London, Moon River

2010

Modern Art, London, Paul Lee
Maccarone, New York, Lavender

2008

Peres Projects, Los Angeles, Arm’s Length

2007

Peres Projects, Berlin, Harbour
Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Paul Lee

2006

Massimo Audiello, New York, Reservoir
Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Paul Lee

2005

Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Olympus

2004

Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, New Work

2003

Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, The dead birds of W28th St

2002

Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Books, Paintings, Drawings
Chelsea Hotel, New York, Paul Lee at the Chelsea Hotel curated by Billy Cotton and Joanna Raczkiewicz

2001

Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Paul Lee

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022

Sarah Brook Gallery, Los Angeles, Body Root

JTT Gallery, New York, The Grid and the Curve

2021

JTT Gallery, New York, Just Above My Head

2020

Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton Woof of the Sun, Ethereal gaze

Kips Bay Decorator Show House, Dallas

2019

Ratio 3, San Francisco, Duck of Doorknob
OV Project, Brussels, Project 19: Cut – Copy – Paste – Part II
Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland, Modern Nature
Admans and Ollman, Portland, Think of Me

2018

Kerry Schuss, New York, Strange Attractors – The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art Vol. 2: The Rings of Saturn, organized by Bob Nickas
Modern Art, London, Summer Exhibition
OV Project, Brussels, Project 09: Etienne Courtois, Paul Lee & Richard Nonas
Adrian Rosenfeld Gallery, San Francisco, Peter, Paul and Mary

2017

Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, Marching to the Beat
Grand Marché Stalingrad, Paris, Le Coup de Soleil, untilthen
Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, TOUCHPIECE

2016

Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, Home Improvements
Modern Art, London, Theories of Modern Art

2015

Marlborough Broome Street, New York, Marlborough Lights
Karma at Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Love for Three Oranges
Invisible Exports, New York, Teeth Gnash Tennessee
Zabludowicz Collection, London, Partial Presence
Morgan Library and Museum, New York, Embracing Modernism: Ten Years of Drawings Acquisitions

2014

Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Geneva, Collective III

2013

JTT, New York, Within and Throughout
Office Baroque Gallery, Antwerp, Notes on Neo-Camp, curated by Chris Sharp
Studio Voltaire, London, Notes on Neo-Camp, curated by Chris Sharp
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, UIA (Unlikely Interactions of the Abstract), curated by Bill Arning,
Valerie Cassel Oliver, and Dean Daderko
Adams and Ollman, Portland, Oregon, Eugene Von Bruechenhein, Felipe Jesus Consalvos, Paul Lee

2011

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Absentee Landlord, curated by John Waters
Portikus, Frankfurt, Flaca, curated by Tom Humphreys
Alison Jacques Gallery, London, Robert Mapplethorpe: Night Work, curated by The Scissor Sisters
Maccarone Gallery, New York, The Medicine Bag

2010

Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London, Every Night I go to Sleep
Exile Exhibitions, Berlin, Summer Camp

2009

Peres Projects Los Angeles, Minneapolis
Saatchi Gallery, London, Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture
Bortolami Gallery, New York, Parallel
Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, Between Beach Ball and Rubber Raft
303 Gallery, New York, Mary’s Choice, curated by Mary Heilmann

2008

Miami, The Station curated by Shamim Momin and Nate Lowman
Goff + Rosenthal, Berlin, The Dulcet Clime of the Bedchamber, curated by Nicolas Weist
Saatchi Gallery, London, Shape of Things to Come

2007

Elizabeth Dee, New York, Jesuvian Process
Yvon Lambert Project Space, New York, Ready-Made
Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NeoIntegrity, curated by Keith Mayerson
Bortolami, New York, Substance & Surface
Alberta Merola Gallery, Provincetown, Eliminate, curated by John Waters

2006

Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Big and Small
Gene Frankel Theatre, New York, Table, curated by Kathleen White and Rafael Sanchez
Ampersand International, San Francisco, Open Network, curated by Patricia Maloney
Paul Kasmin, New York, This is Not Called Gay Art Now, curated by Jack Pierson
Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, New Beginnings
Exit Art, New York, I Heart Exit Art

2005

High Desert Test Sites, 29 Palms, Christening a Cabin, curated by Chris Viet
Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, Drawing Show
Margaret Thatcher Gallery, New York, Certain People I Know

2004

Texas Gallery, Houston, All in the Family
Coleman Projects, London, Disco Hospital

2003

Team Gallery, New York, Hung, Drawn, and Quartered
Scope Art Fair, New York, John Waters Curatorial Choice

1997

K3 Gallery, Zürich, Dislocation
Against the Grain Gallery, Nanton, Alberta, Emerging Artists, curated by Jack Pierson

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Auckland Museum of Art, New Zealand
Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas
Dallas Museum of Art
Government Art Collection (GAC), United Kingdom
La Colección Jumex, Mexico City
M+, Hong Kong
Outset Contemporary Art Fund, London
Portland Art Museum, Oregon
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence
Rubell Family Collection, Miami
San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City

PUBLICATIONS

2018

Paul Lee
Karma, New York
440 Pages, Hardcover
9 × 7 1/4 inches

 

Paul Lee
Special Edition
Karma, New York
440 pages, Hardcover
9 × 7 ¼ inches
Edition of 100

2016

Carousel
Karma, New York
466 pages, Softcover
11 1/2 × 8 1/2 inches
Edition of 100
10 × 8 inches
Edition of 50

 

Carousel
Special Edition
Karma, New York
466 pages
11 1⁄2 × 8 inches
Special Edition of 26

 

Touch Paintings
New York
88 pages
10 × 8 inches
Edition of 50

2010

Stills
Karma, New York
98 pages, Hardcover
8 1/5 × 11 inches

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