Michael S. Williams Curatorial Statement

The curious nature of multidimensional artist Jim Lee has been illuminated through his creations since the late 1990s when he began, in earnest, his exploration of found materials and photography. The Durham, North Carolina native admits this curiosity presented itself during his childhood and continues today with the solitary practice of examining uninhibited construction sites and nature with a fierce fervor. With journalist, professor, farmer, and community organizer on his resume, Lee's career path is as long and has as many twists and turns as the Nile River. And like the Nile, this experience has been a vital transport of lived observations, visible in his 3D and 2D work and, most personally, his photography.

Lee continues to dissect the intricacies of his life through the objects and photographs he creates. His inquisitive nature allows viewers to see things as he's discovering them, positing along with him. In The Curiosity of Jim Lee, the artist's vast interests are on full display through selected works that examine, among other things, the ideas behind abundance, assimilation, and freedom.

Jim Lee Artist Statement

Art, science, and nature are of a piece to me. So are photography and sculpture. I thrive in these binary worlds of permanence and transience, growth and decay, 2D and 3D, photography and sculpture, illusion and truth, and the spaces in between. My work is about remains. I collect small remains of natural processes of decay/ rebirth and human endeavors of construction/ demolition.: small animal bones, seeds, leaves, feathers, nests, insects, synthetic scraps, etc. I bring them to the studio where I photograph them as still-lifes, dioramas or collage-like assemblages. The works can be serious commentaries on the human condition, whimsical constructs, or purely aesthetic compositions, some suggesting motion or depth.

My photographs often include fabricated two or three dimensional objects intended to suggest permanence. These artifacts are crafted with the same care and precision as the photos themselves, each able to stand on its own as an objet d’art. They are the expressions of my desire to bring a sense of dimensionality to the work.

Over time I have felt the need to pull some of them away from their roles as props and place them in places of prominence, standing as larger sculptures in their own rights. Most of my work is done in studio using various cameras and other studio apparatus to photograph my subjects. Other work is created on a flatbed scanner that has been adapted to my own style of work with various attachments and modifications.” - Jim Lee