↳ Exhibitions

Jim Lee at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

April 11, 2021

Artist: Jim Lee

Exhibition title: The Peel Sessions

Venue: Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, US

Date: April 1 – May 1, 2021

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York

Nicelle Beauchene Gallery is pleased to present The Peel Sessions, Jim Lee’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery.

From 1967 to 2004, John Peel, the infamous BBC Radio 1 DJ, invited over 2,000 artists to record three or four songs in live sessions that were later broadcasted on air. These recordings were novel for their raw and organic sound, contrary to what was heard on standard studio mixed and mastered versions of the songs. Artists invited were chanced upon and risk taking, offered a mainstream platform when their output existed outside of the popular. “The Peel Sessions,” as the over 4,000 sessions became known, remain heralded for their sonic singularity and spirit.

Jim Lee, an apostle of Peel and the bands he championed, presents The Peel Sessions as a synthesis of recent work from the studio. On view is an arrangement of paintings that, much like Peel’s sessions, are rough cut and a little gritty, each a record of test-drives and experiments against modernist principles. Fluctuating between linear abstractions and plays on minimalism, Lee’s style challenges the priority traditionally placed on the pictorial surface alone, while toying with notions of painting as object and painting as experimentation. Exposing the framework that lies beneath a canvas, or cobbling materials in a patchwork of addition, Lee investigates and maintains a tenuous, yet playful, dialogue between completion and destruction throughout his practice.

Addressing the how or why he played what he played, John Peel explained in a 1971 Melody Maker interview that:

One of the reasons we played Wild Man Fischer was because I didn’t know if it was good or bad; I didn’t even really know if I liked it or not, and if something has got me that confused then I want to play it on the radio, because it’s good to have something that messes your mind about. And I think the thing with Beefheart is that people don’t know if it’s good or bad, but it’s fashionable.¹

Jim Lee (b. 1970, Berrien Springs, MI) received his MFA from the University of Delaware in 1996. He has shown internationally at Galerie Vidal Cuglietta, Brussels; Motus Fort, Tokyo; FDC Satellite, Brussels and Galerie Markus Winter, Berlin. Additionally he has been included in exhibitions at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at University of Georgia, Athens, GA; the Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson, MD; Ratio 3, San Francisco; LAND, Los Angeles; Islip Art Museum, NY; Galerie Ruth Leuchter, Dusseldorf; Galerie Lelong, New York; Andrae Kaufmann Gallery, Berlin; IMOCA, Indianapolis; White Flag Projects, St. Louis; Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta; Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY. Lee lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Jim Lee, The Peel Sessions, 2021, exhibition view, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York

Jim Lee, FoggyBrut, 2021, Thread on canvas with glass, stickers, plastic bolts, luan with found frame, 28h x 22w in

Jim Lee, Voodoo Smile, 2021, Acrylic on masonite with thread and wire, 12 1/2h x 9w x 6d in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Truth|Senses), 2021, Oil on canvas with thread and wood, 11 1/4h x 11 1/4w x 3 3/4d in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Exercise One), 2021, Oil on naugahyde with canvas, denim, nylon webbing, thread and staples, 96 1/2h x 56w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Beach at Goa), 2021, Spray enamel on canvas and linen with staples and wood, 42h x 31w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (First Victorian Child), 2020, Oil on canvas with organic material, staples and wood, 18h x 20w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Soft Broken Column), 2021, Latex and Flashe paint on canvas with staples wire and wood, Dimensions variable

Jim Lee, Untitled (Vertical Byrdie Shave), 2020, Acrylic, spray enamel, ink and organic materials on canvas with staples, 72h x 48w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Standish Mills), 2021, Flashe paint on canvas with permanent marker, yarn, staples, denim and thread on canvas and polypropalene feedbag, 72h x 48w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Free Kitten), 2021, Oil on canvas with denim and staples, 72h x 48w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (La Tonsure), 2020, Oil and spray enamel on linen, 69h x 48w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (FoggyBrut II), 2021, Oil and thread on denim, 96h x 75w in

Jim Lee, Sacred Attention (Field Recording), 2021, Plastic buckets, pigmented liquid, and organic materials with sound element, 18 1/2h x 11 3/4w x 11 3/4d in

Jim Lee, Untitled (JL Beam Dream), 2020-2021, Acrylic on canvas with linen, found objects, polyurethane foam and thread, 80h x 48w in

Jim Lee, Gunsmoke (Just Like an Armchair), 2021, Acrylic, yarn, graphite and organic materials on canvas, 72h x 48w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Something with Tuba), 2020, Acrylic, glue, collage, hair and graphite on canvas, 78 1/2h x 55 1/4w in

Jim Lee, Untitled (Chemical Choices), 2021, Oil, graphite, collage and tape on paper with framed photograph, Overall: 144 x 62 inches, 40 parts, each 18 x 12 inches