ARTISTS
Liam Lee: Catch and Release
Patrick Parrish Gallery is proud to present 鈥滳atch and Release鈥�, Liam Lee鈥檚 debut solo exhibition inspired by the ephemera of creation and the perplexing poetry of what lies beneath the ocean鈥檚 surface.
Known for phantasmagorical furniture constructed from felted merino wool, Lee is an NYC-based artist and designer whose work takes surrealist shape through creative instinct, technical improvisation, and a deep sensitivity to the power of sense-memory. As a self-taught artist, Lee鈥檚 practice employs labor-intensive craft techniques in often unexpected ways that push the material and formal boundaries of his work. Speaking with his own formal vocabulary, Lee鈥檚 pieces are drenched in color and play with texture, materiality, and scale in order to provoke viewers to reconsider how we relate to the objects within our homes.
鈥淭he title of the show speaks both to the aquatic source of inspiration for this body of work, as well as to the process of creating the work itself, which involves at times casting a net and pulling up a form or an idea and then releasing it back into the world. It also nods to the figure of Proteus, who constantly changes shape, but when caught, holds his true form and provides the answer to his captor鈥檚 question. I suppose it鈥檚 also a way of not holding onto the things you create鈥攁 way of catching the thing in your hand for a brief time as it takes shape and then letting it go,鈥� says Lee.
Lee鈥檚 inaugural showcase welcomes new materials and methods into his aesthetic repertoire, continuing his signature felt furniture and tapestries while introducing glazed ceramics, works on paper, and crocheted wire light sculptures: fluid forms swim across mohair and merino wool, ceramic coral clings to a mirror鈥檚 edge, and freshwater pearls adorn the copper wire skin of what might be a lamprey in another life.
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Patrick Parrish Gallery is proud to present 鈥滳atch and Release鈥�, Liam Lee鈥檚 debut solo exhibition inspired by the ephemera of creation and the perplexing poetry of what lies beneath the ocean鈥檚 surface.
Known for phantasmagorical furniture constructed from felted merino wool, Lee is an NYC-based artist and designer whose work takes surrealist shape through creative instinct, technical improvisation, and a deep sensitivity to the power of sense-memory. As a self-taught artist, Lee鈥檚 practice employs labor-intensive craft techniques in often unexpected ways that push the material and formal boundaries of his work. Speaking with his own formal vocabulary, Lee鈥檚 pieces are drenched in color and play with texture, materiality, and scale in order to provoke viewers to reconsider how we relate to the objects within our homes.
鈥淭he title of the show speaks both to the aquatic source of inspiration for this body of work, as well as to the process of creating the work itself, which involves at times casting a net and pulling up a form or an idea and then releasing it back into the world. It also nods to the figure of Proteus, who constantly changes shape, but when caught, holds his true form and provides the answer to his captor鈥檚 question. I suppose it鈥檚 also a way of not holding onto the things you create鈥攁 way of catching the thing in your hand for a brief time as it takes shape and then letting it go,鈥� says Lee.
Lee鈥檚 inaugural showcase welcomes new materials and methods into his aesthetic repertoire, continuing his signature felt furniture and tapestries while introducing glazed ceramics, works on paper, and crocheted wire light sculptures: fluid forms swim across mohair and merino wool, ceramic coral clings to a mirror鈥檚 edge, and freshwater pearls adorn the copper wire skin of what might be a lamprey in another life.
Artists on show
