Tim Lee

Tim Lee was born in Seoul, Korea in 1975. He obtained his Bachelor of Design degree in 1999 at the University of Alberta, and then went on to complete an MFA at the University of British Columbia in 2002. In Lee's practice, video and photography are used to integrate seminal art historical moments with seminal moments in popular culture. His practice references High Modernism and Conceptual art and is influenced by Robert Smithson, Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman, Robert Morris as well as conceptual photographer Christopher Williams. Locally, the photo-based works of Rodney Graham, Jeff Wall, Ken Lum and Roy Arden provide a context for understanding Lee's work. Lee simultaneously draws upon a wide variety of pop culture sources in his practice, including Steve Martin, the Beastie Boys, Ted Williams, George and Ira Gershwin, The Kingsmen, Harry Houdini and the Marx Brothers. By using his own figure as the central performative character in his work, he conflates high and low culture, and simultaneously highlights the issue of translation. In his recent work, Lee has used the strategy of the sight gag to play on the notion of the amateur comedian and musician.