SHAHEEN Modern and Contemporary Art is delighted to announce an exhibition of recent work by Los Angeles-based artist Michael Dee. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Saturday, May 10th from 7–9:00 p.m. The exhibition will continue through June 20th.
Michael Dee’s second solo exhibition at SHAHEEN (and first exhibition at the gallery since 2000), will focus on sculpture from an ongoing body of work entitled “Stars,” a related series of photo-based works entitled “Negative Stars,” and a single channel video work. Fused from plastic whiskey tumblers, Dee’s variously sized and shaped ”Stars” seem truly weightless. Translucent and multifaceted, organic and hard-edged, Dee’s prismatic, saccharine sweet objects derive from the artist’s ongoing interest in, and fascination with, the vacuousness of fame and celebrity. Through material transformation and bodily association, the artist fashions enticing yet hollow objects that seduce, but offer little more than an empty vessel. At the same time, when hit by spotlight, they imbibe a luminously chilly glow - reflecting and refracting light - complicating themselves and their environments, allowing themselves to transcend mere decoration. For the “Negative Stars,” Dee parlays optical and physical qualities of the “Stars” into two-dimensional photo-based works. Richly colored and lushly produced, these works reinforce the contradiction introduced in the “Stars,” striking a precarious balance between superficiality, depth and beauty.
Michael Dee moved from New York to Los Angeles in 2004. He attended Kent State University and graduated with a BA in art education in 1997 and an MFA with a focus in sculpture in 2000. He has exhibited at Roberts and Tilton, Los Angeles (2001); Gagosian Gallery, New York (2002); Post, Los Angeles (2004); Newman Popiashvili, New York (2005); and Angela Hanley, Los Angeles (2006). Dee’s work has been reviewed in Art Review, Art Papers, Zing Magazine, Artnet.com, Dialogue, Artillery, and Artweek.