Lennie Lee
Encyclopedia
Lennie Lee is a South African conceptual art
ist who lives and works in London.
, South Africa. He moved to the UK in 1960. He was educated at Dulwich college in London before winning a scholarship to study philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford
.
In 1983 he took up painting. Soon after, he moved to east London where he became interested in the urban dereliction left over from the Second World War. In 1984 he occupied several disused buildings and, together with a number of artists including South African painter, Beezy Bailey
, he began to make site-specific
installations
using found material.
From the mid 1980s he joined various underground art collectives including the ARC group, a London-based collective of international artists, influenced by Kurt Schwitters
, who specialized in building site-specific
installation art
. From 1987 to 1991 he worked together with the ARC group until it was finally disbanded in November 1991 in Budapest
.
After the Berlin Wall
came down in 1989, Lee was offered a number of exhibitions in East and West Berlin. While working on a series of outdoor sculptural installations in the summer of 1990, he was invited to work at the Kunst Haus Tacheles in Berlin, where he made contact with the thriving Berlin underground scene. On his return to London in the winter of 1990 he began to make a series of performances, mostly on the theme of taboo
, the first of which took place at the ARC in London's Balls Pond Road. Through this, Lee was introduced to members of the KULE group, a radical theatre collective based in Berlin who invited him to come and stay in August Strasse 10 in the winter of 1990. There, together with performance artist Nils Duemcke, he set up a weekly cabaret. In the same year he painted large-scale banners for the Mutoid Waste Company.
After returning to London, he set up a new art collective known as the 'Department of Hate and Social Sickness', (DHSS) in the spring of 1992. The DHSS continued to make installations and performances in underground venues throughout London until it was disbanded in the spring of 1994. That same year, in collaboration with Ian Stenhouse and Mark Bishop, Lee set up the Rich and famous gallery in the heart of London's East End showing work by a number of artists including Martin Maloney
, David Burrows
, Mark Divo
, Ingo Giezendanner
, Graham Nicholls
, Dan Jones, Tod Hanson
, Lee Campbell, Daniel Fernandez, David Mccairley Ian Stenhouse, Gini Simpson, Trevor Knaggs and Stefanie Maas.
In the winter of 1994, Lee once again moved to Berlin where he organised a series of performances in the theatre space at the Kunst Haus Tacheles in Berlin. There he became involved with a group of radical artists from Zurich including Mark Divo
and Ingo Giezendanner
and from 1995 onwards was repeatedly invited by them to take part in a series of art projects throughout Europe including Divo's important show at the 'Escherwyssplatz' in Zurich in 1995, the infamous Cabaret Voltaire
Zurich in 2002, the 'Sihlpapierfabrik', Zurich in 2003 and the 'Real Biennale', Prague
in 2005 and 'Process', Prague
in 2006.
In the late 1990s Lee made a series of performances and installations for the art collective, Hydra. Between 1996 and 2002 Lee worked together with Gustavo Aguerre
and Ingrid Falk
, mainly in Sweden
.
In 2003 Lee was invited by Gillian McIver
to join 'Luna Nera
', an art collective producing site-specific
installations
. He has exhibited with Luna Nera
in London, Berlin and St. Petersburg.
Since 2000 Lee has concentrated mainly on performance art
, video art
, digital photography and installation art
. He has exhibited in a number of UK institutions including the Barbican Art Centre, the Institute of Contemporary Arts
, Tate gallery
and the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow
. Abroad he has exhibited in the National Gallery in Stockholm
1998, the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Valencia
, 2005, the Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid
, 2006 and the prestigious Venice Biennale
in 1999. He was the subject of documentaries. He was included in an Imax film
. Since 2001 Lee has made a series of performances and exhibitions in Chengdu
, Xian and Beijing organised by curator Shu Yang
.
Lee is a painter and performance artist working with themes of taboo
, shame
and fear
. His work involves extreme performance
, video and digital images
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
ist who lives and works in London.
Life and career
Lennie Lee is a British artist born in JohannesburgJohannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa. He moved to the UK in 1960. He was educated at Dulwich college in London before winning a scholarship to study philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
.
In 1983 he took up painting. Soon after, he moved to east London where he became interested in the urban dereliction left over from the Second World War. In 1984 he occupied several disused buildings and, together with a number of artists including South African painter, Beezy Bailey
Beezy Bailey
Beezy Bailey is a South African artist who works in several media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking and ceramics....
, he began to make site-specific
Site-specific
Site-specific is used in a range of contexts:In art Site-specific artIn molecular biology Site-specific recombination...
installations
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
using found material.
From the mid 1980s he joined various underground art collectives including the ARC group, a London-based collective of international artists, influenced by Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters was a German painter who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dada, Constructivism, Surrealism, poetry, sound, painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography and what came to be known as...
, who specialized in building site-specific
Site-specific
Site-specific is used in a range of contexts:In art Site-specific artIn molecular biology Site-specific recombination...
installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
. From 1987 to 1991 he worked together with the ARC group until it was finally disbanded in November 1991 in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
.
After the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
came down in 1989, Lee was offered a number of exhibitions in East and West Berlin. While working on a series of outdoor sculptural installations in the summer of 1990, he was invited to work at the Kunst Haus Tacheles in Berlin, where he made contact with the thriving Berlin underground scene. On his return to London in the winter of 1990 he began to make a series of performances, mostly on the theme of taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
, the first of which took place at the ARC in London's Balls Pond Road. Through this, Lee was introduced to members of the KULE group, a radical theatre collective based in Berlin who invited him to come and stay in August Strasse 10 in the winter of 1990. There, together with performance artist Nils Duemcke, he set up a weekly cabaret. In the same year he painted large-scale banners for the Mutoid Waste Company.
After returning to London, he set up a new art collective known as the 'Department of Hate and Social Sickness', (DHSS) in the spring of 1992. The DHSS continued to make installations and performances in underground venues throughout London until it was disbanded in the spring of 1994. That same year, in collaboration with Ian Stenhouse and Mark Bishop, Lee set up the Rich and famous gallery in the heart of London's East End showing work by a number of artists including Martin Maloney
Martin Maloney
Martin Maloney is a contemporary English artist.-Life and work:Martin Maloney was born in London. He attended the University of Sussex 1980–83, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design 1988–91 and Goldsmiths College 1991–93.Martin Maloney practises deliberately "bad"...
, David Burrows
David Burrows (contemporary artist)
David Burrows is British artist and writer. His work consists of drawings and paint-spattered, debris-littered, haphazard installations. He writes articles on art and aesthetics and is the editor of Article Press at Birmingham City University...
, Mark Divo
Mark Divo
Mark Divo is a Luxembourgeois conceptual artist and curator who organises large scale interactive art projects incorporating the work of a number of well-known underground artists. His own work involves performance, photography, installation, often using found material.-Career:Between 1988 and...
, Ingo Giezendanner
Ingo Giezendanner
Ingo Giezendanner is a painter and installation artist and member of the Kroesos Foundation. He lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.Since 1998, Ingo Giezendanner, alias GRRRR, has been documenting the urban...
, Graham Nicholls
Graham Nicholls
Graham Nicholls is an author, artist and expert on out of body experiences and spirituality. He speaks widely on issues around parapsychology, ethics and art at institutions ranging from the London Science Museum to the Cambridge Union Society...
, Dan Jones, Tod Hanson
Tod Hanson
Tod Hanson born 1963 is a London-based painter and graphic artist. His work is concerned with "a world over amplified and speeding up. The telescoping of industrialised environment, consumerism, technology, celebration, waste and war through time"...
, Lee Campbell, Daniel Fernandez, David Mccairley Ian Stenhouse, Gini Simpson, Trevor Knaggs and Stefanie Maas.
In the winter of 1994, Lee once again moved to Berlin where he organised a series of performances in the theatre space at the Kunst Haus Tacheles in Berlin. There he became involved with a group of radical artists from Zurich including Mark Divo
Mark Divo
Mark Divo is a Luxembourgeois conceptual artist and curator who organises large scale interactive art projects incorporating the work of a number of well-known underground artists. His own work involves performance, photography, installation, often using found material.-Career:Between 1988 and...
and Ingo Giezendanner
Ingo Giezendanner
Ingo Giezendanner is a painter and installation artist and member of the Kroesos Foundation. He lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.Since 1998, Ingo Giezendanner, alias GRRRR, has been documenting the urban...
and from 1995 onwards was repeatedly invited by them to take part in a series of art projects throughout Europe including Divo's important show at the 'Escherwyssplatz' in Zurich in 1995, the infamous Cabaret Voltaire
Cabaret Voltaire (Zürich)
Cabaret Voltaire was the name of a nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland. It was founded by Hugo Ball, with his companion Emmy Hennings on February 5, 1916 as a cabaret for artistic and political purposes. Other founding members were Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Tristan Tzara, and Jean Arp...
Zurich in 2002, the 'Sihlpapierfabrik', Zurich in 2003 and the 'Real Biennale', Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 2005 and 'Process', Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 2006.
In the late 1990s Lee made a series of performances and installations for the art collective, Hydra. Between 1996 and 2002 Lee worked together with Gustavo Aguerre
Gustavo Aguerre
Gustavo Aguerre, born 1953 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, artist, photographer, curator, writer, theatre designer. After leaving Argentina he moved to Germany studying at the Munich Art Academy between 1974 and 1976....
and Ingrid Falk
Ingrid Falk
Ingrid Falk is a painter, installation artist and curator. In 1992 formed the art collective FA+ in collaboration with her husband, Gustavo Aguerre...
, mainly in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
In 2003 Lee was invited by Gillian McIver
Gillian Mciver
Gillian McIver, Canadian artist and writer born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK and raised in Vancouver is a writer, curator and film-maker.After studying history and philosophy, she moved to London where, in 1997, she set up an international underground art collective, known as Luna Nera in the abandoned...
to join 'Luna Nera
Luna Nera
Luna Nera is a collaborative group of international artists who make site-specific artworks. Members of Luna Nera have exhibited in a number of venues ranging from disused buildings to Tate Britain....
', an art collective producing site-specific
Site-specific
Site-specific is used in a range of contexts:In art Site-specific artIn molecular biology Site-specific recombination...
installations
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
. He has exhibited with Luna Nera
Luna Nera
Luna Nera is a collaborative group of international artists who make site-specific artworks. Members of Luna Nera have exhibited in a number of venues ranging from disused buildings to Tate Britain....
in London, Berlin and St. Petersburg.
Since 2000 Lee has concentrated mainly on performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
, video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
, digital photography and installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
. He has exhibited in a number of UK institutions including the Barbican Art Centre, the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
, Tate gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
and the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. Abroad he has exhibited in the National Gallery in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
1998, the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
, 2005, the Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, 2006 and the prestigious Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
in 1999. He was the subject of documentaries. He was included in an Imax film
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
. Since 2001 Lee has made a series of performances and exhibitions in Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
, Xian and Beijing organised by curator Shu Yang
Shu Yang
Shu Yang, born 1969, China, A Chinese painter, performance artist, photographer and curator. After studying at Xian Academy of Fine Art, he moved to Beijing where, in collaboration with Chinese artist Zhu Ming and Chen Jin, he set up the first performance art festival in China known as the Open Art...
.
Lee is a painter and performance artist working with themes of taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
, shame
Shame
Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning to cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame....
and fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
. His work involves extreme performance
Extreme performance art
Since the beginning of the Dadaism in the Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich in 1916, many artists have experimented with extreme performance art as a critique of contemporary consumer culture. Some have used bodily fluids such as blood, faeces and urine. Other times they perform self mutilation. In the...
, video and digital images
External links
- Lennie Lee website.
- "The Other Side: The Wonderful World of Lennie Lee" – documentary for Channel Four, 1999.
- "Zwei Bilder nach Protesten abgehängt" by C. Freiwald, Berliner MorgenpostBerliner MorgenpostBerliner Morgenpost is a German newspaper, based and mainly read in Berlin, where it is the second most read daily newspaper. Founded in 1898 by Leopold Ullstein, it was taken over by Axel Springer AG in 1959. The paper had a circulation of 145,556 issues in 2009, with an estimated 322,000 readers...
, 4 February 2005 (in German). - "Vanguardia puesta a prueba: 'Kick the trush' llena el Círculo de Bellas Artes de electrónica" by Andrea Aguilar, El País, 29 October 2006 (in Spanish).
- "Berlin will keine 'Judensau'" by Khue Pham and Anna Reimann, Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, 30 January 2007 (in German). - "Missä menee taiteen raja" by Annika Suvi Johanna Vaisanen, Helsingin SanomatHelsingin SanomatHelsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays...
, 19 March 2008 (in FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
).