Austin Lee: Psychomachia in Miami - Jeffrey Deitch Gallery
Austin Lee masterfully captures human emotion. His unique process, which characterizes his career, blends software technologies with traditional artistic methods to create vivid paintings, sculptures, and video installations. Psychomachia in Miami is a continuation of Lee's solo exhibition previously held in Los Angeles earlier this fall. This exhibition furthers Jeffrey Deitch's tradition of showcasing exhibitions and public art projects in the Miami Design District since 2003.
In his work, Lee delves into the hyperreality shaped by social media and the internet. This exhibition further investigates the intricate nature of human connection as refracted through our digital era. Utilizing 3-D and virtual reality software, he creates drawings that he later translates onto canvases using airbrush techniques or 'sculpts' in materials like resin and bronze. Lee introspectively explores his unfiltered emotions with vivid colors and surreal imagery.
The exhibition is inspired by Lee's transformative visit to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy, where he encountered Giotto's frescoed scenes inspired by the 14th-century poem “Psychomachia” by Prudentius. The poem, which illustrates the allegorical conflict between virtues and vices for the human soul, significantly influenced several paintings in this exhibition. Some of Lee's artworks feature imagery directly inspired by the Chapel's frescoes, while others subtly invoke familiar symbols.
A key highlight of the exhibition is Blue Fountain (2022-2024), Lee’s fountain sculpture previously displayed in his solo museum exhibition at the Lotte Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, in September 2023. Joy (2023) and Repose (2023) also appeared at the Lotte Museum.
Psychomachia includes a series of new video works that further examine surveilled spaces and the unsettling emotions stirred by the paintings. Animated figures gaze at the audience from the same perspective as reflected in In Bed (2024). Lee often builds on previous creations, situating them within a rich, multi-layered visual landscape by rendering them across varied media.
