Jonathan Lee

Artist Talk

Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 5:30 pm, Wilson Hall Concert Hall

"My social practice is different from my studio practice because it’s not exclusively centered around my interests or choices. It’s dependent on the involvement of others and driven by whatever they contribute. Everyone who participates is a collaborating artist, applying their own unique imagination and point of view to the questions posed. My mission as the lead artist is to provide a flexible and sound framework on which both individual and group experiences can form. Those experiences make the work possible."

Jonathan Lee is an artist and librarian living and working in Richmond Virginia.

As a visiting artist at the University of Richmond, he led the Who is Downtown project, a community-generated portrait of individuals who live, work, and play in downtown Richmond. Lee also created the Curriculum Lab project, a workshop and exhibition series that takes an arts integrated approach to exploring visual and information literacy. Workshops were held at the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance, Richmond Young Writers, Studio Two Three, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Roanoke College, where he was also a visiting artist. The artwork produced was exhibited at Studio Two Three, Current Art Fair, The Visual Art Center of Richmond, and 1708 Gallery.

His studio practice explores ephemeral memory, secret histories, and social constructions; often through abstracting activated materials. He’s had recent solo exhibitions at Artspace, Christopher Newport University, and George Mason University. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Taubman Museum of Art and the Harnett Museum of Art, as well as galleries nationwide.

Lee has a BA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MLIS from Wayne State University. He is currently the Academic Support Librarian at Reynolds Community College.