{"id":34601,"date":"2016-06-23T21:16:10","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T01:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=34601"},"modified":"2016-08-15T10:01:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T14:01:40","slug":"adam-lee-of-a-great-and-mighty-shadow-at-angell-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=34601","title":{"rendered":"Adam Lee: Of A Great and Mighty Shadow at Angell Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of A Great and Mighty Shadow<\/em> is Melbourne (Australia) based painter Adam Lee\u2019s solo show debut in Canada, and his paintings are beautifully solemn. Brushed with shades of black and accents of orange, blue, and yellow, Lee\u2019s works possess an eye-catching medley of watercolour-like washes with occasional intricate details (think Peter Doig but with an Australian twist). Interested in the idea of shadows and how they cast over the histories and lives of people, Lee\u2019s paintings tap into imagery from his own family history to bring light to the shadows\u2014and in the process, he creates links between the past, the present, and the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Installation view of\u00a0Adam Lee,\u00a0Of A Great and Mighty Shadow.\u00a0<\/em>Image courtesy of Angell Gallery<\/p>\n

The show opens with the colour-splashed painting “The Namesake,” depicting a double portrait of the artist and his late grandfather of the same name. The two faces are turned away from each other, staring into shadows of black and washes of colours. Representing the theme of looking back and looking ahead, this introspective and autobiographical portrait is a precursor of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Lee, The Namesake, 2016, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 78″ x 65″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery<\/p>\n

Moving forward throughout the show, it\u2019s clear that Lee not only wants to create links between the past, present, and future, but does so through mobilizing the concept of death. For instance, the painting “Of A Great and Mighty Shadow” portrays a funeral-embalming scene, an instance where two worlds\u2014the physical present and the anticipated divine future\u2014meet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Lee, Of A Great and Mighty Shadow, 2016, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 98″ x 79″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery<\/p>\n

Likewise, “Threshold” depicts the front gate of Lee\u2019s father\u2019s childhood home, symbolizing a point between past and present (the death of the past, the mundane of the present). Then there\u2019s the piece “The Great Cloud,” featuring six ominous orange faces that resemble the Grim Reaper himself (dead bodies of the past, ghostly spirits of the present?), looming in and out of a black cloud of paint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Lee, Threshold, 2016, oil and synthetic polymer paint on paper, 41″ x 30″ (left) and The Great Cloud, 2016, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 43″ x 29″ (right).\u00a0Image courtesy of Angell Gallery<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s paintings highlight loss\u2014the loss of life, the loss of the past. The dark and gloom-ridden atmosphere that his works generate greatly complements the overarching shadow that Lee seeks to emulate, to explore. Surrounded by ominous paintings with titles like “Mourner,” “Altar,” and “All the Tears and All the Seed,” the viewers easily find themselves walking through a sea of darkness, a solemn space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Lee, All the Tears and All the Seed, 2016, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 26″ x 18″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery<\/p>\n

But thus, there is light. The show\u2019s centerpiece work, “Zim Zum (Three Tabernacles),” depicts a family of three (with mom clad in Blundstones) standing underneath an overarching rainbow. Though debilitated in form\u2014represented by three scraggly thin bands\u2014this rainbow, however sad, generates light in a show of darkness. Placed at the center of gallery, the rainbow of “Zim Zum” seems to persistently glow among a sea of dark works. Symbolically, this is exactly what Lee needed to drive his concept home\u2014this light that emerges from the shadows literally signifies an arch or bridge linking the past and present; the past and the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Adam Lee, Zim Zum (Three Tabernacles), 2016, oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 86″ x 132″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery<\/p>\n

Emily Lawrence<\/p>\n

*Exhibition information: June 3 \u2013 July 2, 2016. Angell Gallery, 1444 Dupont St., Unit 15, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wednesday \u2013 Saturday, 12 \u2013 5 pm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emily Lawrence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interested in the idea of shadows and how they cast over the histories and lives of people, Lee\u2019s paintings create links between the past, the present, and the future.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emily-lawrence","category-features","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34601"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35284,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34601\/revisions\/35284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}