First Solo Exhibition for Seattle Artist Susie Lee at The Frye Art Museum
Susie J. Lee: Of Breath and Rain
February 18 – April 15, 2012

This spring the Frye Art Museum will present the first solo museum exhibition by Seattle artist Susie Lee.  Susie J. Lee: Of Breath and Rain will be on view February 18 through April 15, 2012. Of Breath and Rain explores the sensory richness of human existence through a range of new media. The quiet, meditative quality of Lee’s work enables the viewer to have an experience that is far more than purely visual.

Curated by Robin Held, Of Breath and Rain features signature works, different in material and scale but sharing a focus on lived time: the time of a single breath, a sudden rain shower, a nap, and a long life. Rain Shower, 2007, offers an immersive cocoon, activated by our own movements, of an all-too-brief but sensual weather event. Still Lives: Exposure, 2010, draws us into an intimate video meditation on thirty minutes in the life of an elderly woman. Still Lives, is part of a series Lee created specifically for Washington Care Seattle, where it is on permanent display. Both the aural and the visual patterns in the darkened gallery provide an ideal environment for meditation on time, love, loss, and memory. Lee’s early training as a pianist led to an interest in the human hand.

Although she attended medical school with the intention of becoming a hand surgeon, Lee ultimately decided that medicine was not her calling. She enrolled as a graduate student in ceramics at the University of Washington where she was drawn to clay as the material closest in malleability to the human body. Initially, Lee focused on creating tiny clay sculptures but then found video and other media to be more compelling.

Both Rain Shower and Still Lives reflect Lee’s deep awareness of the temporality of life, human fragility, and the corporeal richness of our existence. Although she has left medical school far behind, her education in the medical sciences informs all her work, which has at its core an inquiry into what makes us human.

Lee has been named an “Artist to Watch” by the national publication Artnews. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Denver Art Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art (Austin), Galleria Tiziana Di Caro (Salerno, Italy), Artefiere Bologna (Bologna, Italy), and Gallery Hyundai (Seoul). In 2011, the Portland Art Museum selected her as a recipient of its Northwest Contemporary Art Award. 

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Susie J. Lee: Of Breath and Rain is organized by the Frye Art Museum and curated by Robin Held. The exhibition is funded by the Frye Foundation with generous support from the Offield Family Foundation and Frye Art Museum members and donors. Seasonal support is provided by ArtsFund.

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The Frye Art Museum is located at 704 Terry Avenue, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Admission is free.

For complete information on all exhibitions and programs, visit fryemuseum.org

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