JOHN KEMP LEE

TIME BEING

IN MEMORY OF CARROLL JANE LEE

d = D +/- ¥

John Kemp Lee has a rule by which he generates his work. The idea deals with three types of “distance”: absolute distance, relative distance and conditional distance, where:

d = distance

¥ = change

D = death

Artist rules are idiosyncratic self-imposed limits of sorts that allow them to pursue the essence of their ideas without the distractions of an endless range of options. They also allow, over a long period of serious practice, for an artist to distinguish which elements are more tendentious and superficial than others. As an artist extends their practice over the years certain patterns begin to appear and repeat in one's arsenal of material and method based on trial and error. Lee's long-term engagement pays off for the viewer. The current selection on view rigorously defines an area of interest to such a degree that the viewer is naturally compelled into sympathy with his subject. These new pieces bespeak a sense of melancholy, loss, and the mystery of things without being maudlin or nostalgic and represent a heartbreaking reverence for people, places and things present and for the memory of those that have gone.

Gerald Auten
Hanover

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