MIKE LEE: SUNNY DAYS

© Mike Lee

Over the Influence is presenting the first solo exhibition of Mike Lee with the gallery. Sunny Days at Over the Influence, Los Angeles will present a new body of works on canvas alongside new sculptures by the artist. February 16 - March 29, 2020

Lee communicates contemporary social attitudes and anxieties through simplified silhouettes of the human form.  By avoiding detail and blurring identity, his iconic figures amplify the emotive undertones of his own biographical narratives. These stylized forms are universally relatable and deeply cathartic reflections of the artists own life.

Through a series of new and original multimedia works, Lee reimagines his adolescence into a surreal play-land rendition of his youth. From physical spaces, to solemn moments of introspection, he reflects on mundane moments of his childhood spent in Southern California. The sequence of rooms navigates through various stages of his upbringing with each space confronting specific memories. As the author of his surreal retelling, the artist takes creative license with the narrative, embellishing the story with happier alternatives to offset an underlying sadness. While some are whimsical fantasies, Sunny Days wrestles honestly between the melancholy of memory and idyllic dreamlike possibilities.

© Mike Lee

About Mike Lee

Mike Lee (b. 1983, Placen7a, CA) received his BFA in 2006 from O7s College of Art and Design. Lee’s work has been exhibited in galleries across Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, and Tokyo including exhibi7ons at Over the Influence Gallery (Hong Kong), Japanese American Na7onal Museum (Los Angeles), the Honolulu Museum of Art (Hawaii), and the Vincent Price Art Museum (Los Angeles). He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. .