Philip Lee

Lee sees himself as 'addressing the taboos associated with exposing the male body' and has experienced a personal sense of liberation through his work. His efforts recall early feminist performance. When a naked Carolee Schneeman and friends wrestled and writhed with chicken carcasses (and the rest) in Meat Joy (1964), their idea was to celebrate the flesh in a kind of proto-feminist erotics. A similar sense of letting go is apparent in the videos that record Lee's ritualised actions. In the past he has exhibited folded slabs imprinted with torsos, but these are signs of his performances, rather than resolved objects in their own right. Are they then de-materialised? It is hard to say. At any rate, they are not essential to his practice. For Lee, clay has become a means of exploring and expressing masculine subjectivity. Paradoxically, at the same time the viewer is invited to objectify the male body: to imagine its collision with the material, to witness its exposure.

Images published with the text are similar to those on the Slab II page of my website.

[For another even shorter reference, concerning the performance on 15th September 2005 of Slip VI, in the Journal of the Association of Jewish Refugees see also: Slip VI]

Please note that there are two minor inaccuracies in the Dahn article, one of which is of importance only to a ceramicist. Footnotes below:

1. Usually called the 'University of Westminster'
2. Technically, I used a vitreous slip, runny clay and glaze mixture with mars violet raw pigment, rather than 'stains', which are very different.
3. The clay I used was Earthstone Original which is a commercial 'stoneware' clay rather than 'earthenware' - essentially the former can be fired to higher temperatures. It is malleable and does not crack so easily as is dries.

The East Wing Collection is a biennial student-curated contemporary art show featuring the work of up-and-coming artists alongside that of well-known established names. The show includes wonderful work, in a range of media, by artists such as Anthony Gormley, Philip Jackson, Miltos Manetas, Marilène Oliver and Mark Wallinger.

The show website is well worth a look. It includes more details about the show, artists and, how best to find your way to the venue. Go to www.eastwing8.co.uk

Attached is a handout you might want to print off. The photograph is by Romain Forquy, the text by Katy Blatt.

Hope to see you there,
Philip

Please print out the invitation in order to get in - especially if you are coming to the PV on 31st August or on Saturday 1st September. Let me know if you can't download or print it off.

It is unlikely I will be able to talk to you but I do hope to SEE you there!

best wishes
Philip

Private View - Friday 31st August 2007 - 6pm to 9pm

Exhibition - Saturday 1st to Friday 7th September
- Weekdays 11am - 7pm, Friday 11am - 4pm, Saturday 11am - 6pm, SUNDAY CLOSED

Place - Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, 107-109 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0DU

Nearest Tube Stations - Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square

Check out the catalogue at www.csmartauction.com

Best wishes
Philip

Attachment: Auction Invite

Some early details are on the AcArt website at:

www.actart.co.uk

Check out the list of 100 artists...

ActArt5
Till Death Us Do Art

Friday 8th June 2007 - 7.30 pm to 4 am

The Arches, 51-53 Southwark Street, London Bridge, SE1 1RU Near to London Bridge tube - map on the Act Art website.

Where: The Barge House, Oxo Tower Warfe, SouthBank. c. Ten minutes walk from Southwark Tube on the Jubilee line Click following link, for a jolly map with an animated double decker bus!!!!: http://southbanklondon.com/index.php?pid=58&attractionid=4

If you can come and need more details please contact me.

If you catch part of my performance, 6.30 - 8.30 pm during the private view (room 6 on level 2) I would be grateful for your uncensored feelings and thoughts on what you see, via my contact page please.