Jivan Lee "Icons of the American West" June 2019

JIVAN LEE

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June 11 - June 22, 2019 Jackson Hole

JIVAN LEE Icons of the American West

Jackson Hole | Scottsdale | AltamiraArt.com

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Fall Storm Above Taos Oil on linen | 60 x 32 inches Enquire

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ICONS OF THE AMERICAN WEST A 2015 trip to the Tetons inspired deep inquiry for Jivan Lee: standing beneath the iconic peaks—the Grand Teton in particular— situated so plainly amidst the grand scale of geologic time, left him feeling humbled and inspired, mindful of the force nature continually exerts on humankind.

He returned to his studio in Taos, New Mexico to ruminate.

One painting emerged as an unexpected distillation of his experience in the Tetons: a cropped-in view of the Grand Teton, slightly comical, slightly unnerving—reminiscent of a yearbook photo, ”too up-close, decontextualized, and yet still substantial,” he says. “I had stumbled upon a discordant and surprisingly charged artwork, and it stuck with me for years.”

Mystery and wildness are the core of his passion as a painter; usually his pursuit of them leads him to focus on entire landscapes, “emanating and immersive in their impact.” Which is initially what drew him to the Tetons.

Back home, he realized the quintessentially-American mountains had led him in a completely different direction.

He arrived at a question as self-challenge: what if he did a series of paintings that decontextualized a powerful, ancient, and “iconic” subject like the Tetons?

He began pondering the idea of the “icon,” its varied meanings and its resonance in the powerful landscapes of the American West—the scenes that grace license plates and movie scenes, the places protected by acts of Congress, the sites integral to national identity. What do these landscape icons mean today? And what would happen if he translated them into a contemporary palette?

If he deconstructed their contours into repeated motifs?

If he treated them like Andy Warhol treated consumer culture—as subjects of iterative iconography? Would the resulting paintings convey a fresh sense of authenticity?

Or would they border on blasphemy?

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Through this intensive, inquisitive process, paintings emerged as their own strain of icons—signposts along an alternative route toward insight. Bold, bright and dismounted from direct observation, only the peak’s silhouette and structure remain recognizable, the rest extrapolated from emotion.

Buoyed by this experiment, Lee then returned to his enduring practice of closely observing oft-overlooked moments in nature, and found his perspective altered by his paintings of the Tetons: couldn’t these subtler scenes be considered quiet icons, as worthy of celebration and reverence as grandiose peaks? Are they not “iconic” moments reflective of the American West? And when he turned to prime places in northern New Mexico—the third set of paintings on view at Altamira— he let his icon exploration inform his trueto-observation plein air paintings. By his hand, the Rio Grande River, the Taos Gorge and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument resonate as potent evocations of the modern American psyche.

The three sets of work thus represent distinct responses to iconic landscapes

in the American West. From the Popinspired Grand Teton iterations to relatively anonymous places to renowned New Mexico destinations, he has followed his curiosity and passion into a fresh body of work. Questions that persist: “Where is the landscape in contemporary culture?

How is the landscape—broadly speaking— iconic? And how do specific facets become standalone icons? For whom?

What happens when the landscape is both celebrated as subject and reframed as an iterative trope? What is iconic about the today’s American West, and what role does the landscape play in our conceptualization of it?”

“I’ve come to realize that I essentially create icons in the original Greek sense of the word eikōn, “likenesses, images”— in my case of the landscape,” Lee says.

“In so doing, I am increasingly finding unexpected conceptual intrigue and meaning. Sometimes I paint icons of things that are ‘iconic:’ famous places, vistas, subjects. But it’s also true that with my paintings—not unlike the intent of religious icons—I hope to provide a window, of sorts, into a reverential experience of the beauty and power that is the landscape.”

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Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Red Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Orange Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Yellow Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Green Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Blue Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Indigo Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Violet Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/Black Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Grand Teton, ROYGBIV/White Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Hulk Oil on panel | 16 x 12 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Marilyn Oil on panel | 16 x 12 inches Grand Teton, Red, White, and Blue Oil on panel | 16 x 12 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, On Trend Oil on panel | 16 x 12 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Predawn Oil on panel | 16 x 12 inches Grand Teton, Sunrise Oil on panel | 16 x 12 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, New Sneakers Oil on panel | 24 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Night Vision #2 Oil on panel | 24 x 24 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Night Vision #1 Oil on panel | 24 x 18 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Night Vision #3 Oil on panel | 48 x 36 inches Enquire

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Grand Teton, Rising Light Oil on linen | 72 x 48 inches Enquire

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Lone Tree Series - By the Sun, Miles to go/the Universe Before Us, Lightening Day Oil on linen | 70 x 120 inches Enquire

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Spring #1 - Rio Grande Oil on panel | 72 x 48 inches Enquire

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Spring #2 - Rio Grande Oil on panel | 48 x 72.5 inches, Diptych Enquire

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River Bends - Rio Grande Oil on linen | 52 x 142.5 inches Enquire

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Sunrise Reflected Oil on linen | 68 x 48 inches Enquire

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Springtime, Late Afternoon Oil on linen | 48 x 48 inches Enquire

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Dynamic Equilibrium Oil on three panels | 36 x 109 inches Enquire

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Homage to an Old Friend #2 Oil on linen | 44 x 54 inches Enquire

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Talpa Snow #1 Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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Talpa Snow #2 Oil on panel | 36 x 24 inches Enquire

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A Sea of Snow on Juniper and Sage Oil on panel | 30 x 30 inches Enquire

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Winter Above the Valley Oil on linen | 48 x 68 inches Enquire

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172 Center Street | Jackson, Wyoming 83001 AltamiraArt.com | 307-739-4700

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