Closed
18.4 – 11.5 2018
Jocelyn Lee:The Appearance of Things
3–5 Swallow St
Jocelyn Lee:The Appearance of Things
18.04 – 11.05.2018
Closed
Hours
Monday to Saturday
10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Gallery
3–5 Swallow St
London
W1B 4DE
July Burn, 2016. Jocelyn Lee
The first UK solo exhibition of American photographer, Jocelyn Lee, opened at Huxley Parlour Gallery in April 2018. The exhibition showcased a selection of Lee’s portraits, landscapes and still lifes, including works from her latest series The Appearance of Things.
Lee’s work is driven by existential themes of sexuality, family, death and ageing. Throughout her career, she has utilised portraiture of the female form as a tool to explore the tactile qualities of the living world. Her richly descriptive colour works emphasise the tonal and textural richness of foliage, fabrics and flesh.
Encompassing and fusing still life, portrait and landscape genres, the works depict bodies enmeshed in an ephemeral environment. The female forms are submerged in water or dappled in sunlight, counterpointed with contemporary memento mori of vivid and painterly still lifes of rotting flowers and glistening fruit. Collectively, the works offer a melancholy yet unsentimental reflection on life’s transitions through stages of birth, blossoming and death.
The Works
25
Jocelyn Lee
The Burn Pile
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
The Bath
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
The Empty Mirror
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Jill with Crashing Wave
2015
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Newfoundland
2008
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Raising the Cherry Tree
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
July Burn
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Winter Venus
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Pearl Behind Glass
2014
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Dark Matter #5, Sunflower and Sky
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
The Cove
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Dark Matter #6, The Sunflower’s Belly
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Pamela and Hollyhocks
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
The Perfect Breast
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Dark Matter #2, Pomegranate and Hosta
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Jenna and Fallen Apples
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Late September
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Dark Matter #8, Decomposing Dahlia
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Apple Tree at Night
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Riding the Apple Tree
2016
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
The Woods Near the Quarry #2
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Dark Matter #13, Sinking Rose and Sunflower
2017
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Dark Matter #3, Wedding Flowers
2015
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
Barberry and Joyce
2008
Archival pigment print
Jocelyn Lee
The Woods Near the Quarry
2016
Archival pigment print
B. United States 1962
Biography
Throughout her career, Jocelyn Lee has explored the tactile qualities of the living world through photography. Lee is driven by existential themes, including those of sexuality, family, death and ageing. Spanning portraiture, landscape and still life, Lee’s work frequently questions our perceptions of beauty. In particular, Lee focuses on female subjects to examine pre-conceived notions of the body and ideals of appearance. Her richly descriptive colour works emphasise the tonal and textural richness of foliage, fabrics and flesh.
Jocelyn Lee was born in the United States in 1962. She received her BA in philosophy and visual arts from Yale University and her MFA in photography from Hunter College. Lee taught photography at Princeton University from 2003-2012 and at Maine College of Art from 1993-2001. She has been a visiting artist at Yale University, Bowdoin College, Mass College of Art, and New York University. Lee has exhibited internationally, and her work is housed in the collections of many notable institutions, including The Yale Museum of Art, New Haven, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Museum Folkwang, Essen.