art · giant robot · giant robot 2 · gr2 · mike lee · vincent nguyen · Jun 10, 2015

GR2 Exhibition: Still, Life - Mike Lee + Vincent Nguyen

Giant Robot (GR2) is pleased to present: Still, Life - Art by Mike Lee and Vincent Nguyen

2062 Sawtelle Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025 424 2GO ROBO

Jun 27th - Jul 15, 2015

Two person exhibition.

From Mike Lee:

This series maintains the figures and spaces from my previous work, but I wanted to introduce a surreal quality to the drawings. I opened up walls, rotated sidewalks, dissected objects and really tried to dramatize the lighting. I also wanted to push the contrast between the simple and the complex by controlling the amount of detail.

Mike Lee Bio:

Mike Lee had a typical suburban upbringing in Southern California. He graduated from Otis College of Art and Design and went on to work for various feature film and commercial studios. After moving to New York City, he self-published books such as Bodega (2012) and a series of drawings titled Stand Still (2014). He now focuses on creating his intricate graphite drawings centered around the people and spaces in his everyday life.

Vincent Di Nguyen Bio:

Nguyen grew up in Houston, Texas, where he began his artistic pursuit by drawing dinosaurs and super heroes. He went on to earn a BFA in illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has illustrated numerous of children's books and is also a part of the art department at Bluesky Studios, the makers of the movies Ice Age and Robots.

Art has always been part of my life and integral to who I am as a person. Over the past twenty years, I have played many roles as a working artist: portrait painter, children's illustrator and concept artist for feature films and television. But my personal paintings, represented in this exhibition, are where I give form to my own creativity and shake off the restrictions and rigors of professional work. These pieces are a mixture of cartoon iconography and more painterly, naturally rendered images. My process is exploratory - I want to give the paintings a sense of realism while at the same time playing with color and experimenting with graphic motifs.