Ray Lee

Lives and works in Athens, GA, USA

Artist statement

My work always begins with a drawing. Drawing is a way of thinking about an idea and to test its conceptual and expressive viability. The idea has to be visually compelling and it has to work at a scale that makes sense for the drawing and its realization. I’m fascinated by what a line can do on its own. During the first year of the pandemic, I made drawings of things found in my home in configurations of piles or stacks. The subject matter of the drawings varied (boxes, vases, dumbbells, pillows, etc). I made drawings of these arrangements using the simplest means of lines to depict objects on paper. Recently, I've been creating much larger drawings using simple forms and a myriad of lines to play with color relationships. The increased scale has a more insistent presence that's almost sculptural in effect. Play and intuition are my guiding principles in creating this work. To quote Piet Mondrian regarding his artistic pursuits, I want to “find things out." I want viewers of my work to be surprised by the encounter as well.

Artwork