Willis F. Lee
20 Arroyo Calabasas
Santa Fe, NM 87506
Phone: 505-982-1115
and 505-984-0993
By Appointment
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willisflee@msn.com |
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Image: © Willis F. Lee
"Site:1221"
Copperplate photogravure, Ed 18
Plate size: 6 5/8" x 5/8"
Paper size: 15" x 11" |
Willis Lee was born in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1948. Since beginning his photographic career in 1971, his work has been included in over one hundred exhibitions. He is widely know for his portfolios in copperplate photogravure and large scale photography. Lee has always been a visual explorer, pushing the envelope of contemporary printmaking. During his career he has acted as educator, lecturer, curator and publisher.
Recent work includes "Subjacent", a study of the subterranean landscape. These complex images are produced in a scale of 1/1. The desert is dug up (rocks, plants, sand, artifacts, etc.) and reconstructed in the studio on 1/4" plate glass. This cross section of the landscape is then contact printed onto negative material in 30 x 40" sections and then contact printed as a gelatin sliver print and toned. Prints range in size from 10 x 12" to over 30 x 120".
"My fascination with the connection between the diminutive and the colossal has been the dominating theme in my work for many years. The similarities between a micro crystal growing in a pool of water and a subterranean landscape the size of a football field are wondrous things, this is what I try to manifest in my work. There is a certain coziness in naivety, soothing that you don't have to understand everything, just be the observer."
-Willis F. Lee
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Image: © Willis F. Lee
"Coyote Caves I"
Copperplate photogravure triptych, Ed 30
Plate size: 5" x 21.75"
Paper size: 14" x 30" |
Image: © Willis F. Lee
"Rio Grande At Night", pigment print on rag,
edition 8, 25 x 91"
Click image to enlarge (43K) |
"Willis
Lee's prints join a rich tradition in the arts, which has for centuries
explored the vitality and sensuousness of floral objects. From elegant,
stylized carvings of lotus blossoms in ancient Egypt and Persia,
to twentieth century artists like Edward Steichen, Imogen Cunningham
and Georgia O'Keeffe, floral subjects form a continuum of aesthetic
expression. Like those before him, Willis Lee has allowed his chosen
medium to make its special imprint on that tradition."
--James L. Enyeart
Anne & John Marion Professor of Photographic arts
and Director
of Marion Center
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2008 Michelson Museum of Art, Marshall, Texas. "Willis Lee-
Photography As The Minds Eye".
2004 "Subjacent" , Verve Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2002 Museum of Printing History, Houston, TX
2001 "New Work," Pure Land Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1997 "Observations," Hand Graphics Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1997 Judy Youens Gallery, Houston, TX
1996 Dutch Phillips & Co., Dallas, TX
1995 I.Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
1994 Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR
1993 CAFÉ, Albuquerque, NM
1991 Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1988 The Squash Blossom Gallery, Aspen, CO
1987 "Romantic Visions of the American West,"
Elaine Horwitch
Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1985 "Solitario: A Desert Portrait,"
Dallas Museum of Natural
History, Dallas, TX |
Image: © Willis F. Lee
"Bird of Paradise", chine collé copperplate photogravure,
edition 50, plate size: 14 1/4 x 11 1/2",
paper size: 28 x 22 1/4" |
 Image: © Willis F. Lee
"Allegory of the Cave: Plate I",
copperplate photogravure, edition 30,
plate size: 8 1/4 x 10",
paper size: 14 1/2 x 17" |
2009 ARTSingapore
2009 Amon Carter Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas. "High Modernism: Alfred Stieglitz and His Legacy"
2009 Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities, Arvada , Colorado. "Pressing The Limits"
2009 Contemporary Arts Center, Las Vegas, NV. "Pressing The Limits".
2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Houston Wilderness:
A Collaboration".
2005 Masterworks of American Photography, Amon Carter Museum,
Ft. Worth, TX
2003 "Three Photographers," Poissant/O'Neal Gallery, Houston, TX
2003 "Ephemeral," Evo Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2003 "Feral Photographers," Willis Lee Studio, Santa Fe, NM
2003 Lee & Shapiro, Willis Lee Studio, Santa Fe, NM
2003 New Mexico Print Makers, Santa Fe Art Institute
2002 Wrapped, Evo Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2002 Lee & Shapiro, Willis Lee Studio, Santa Fe, NM
2002 "Bouquet," Connecticut Graphic Arts Center, Norwalk CT
2001 Two-person show, Mariposa Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2001 "Contemporary Photogravure," Kala Art Institute, Berkeley,
CA
2000 "Santa Fe Contingent," Forrest Scott Gallery, Millburn,
NJ
2000 Two-person show, "Permanent Impressions,"
Mayans Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1999 "1999 Acquisitions," The Hallmark Fine Art Collection,
Kansas City, MO
1998 "Black & White Show 1998," Forrest Scott Gallery,
Millburn, NJ
1998 "Recent Acquisitions 97-98," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
TX
1997 "Flowers," The Platinum Gallery, New York, NY
1996 Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1995 "CAFÉ in Retrospect," CAFÉ, Albuquerque,
NM
1994 "New Prints," Hand Graphics Gallery & Atelier, Santa
Fe, NM
1993 Pepper Gallery, Boston, MA
1993 "Lerner and Lee - Forms in Nature," Taos Inn, Taos,
NM
1992 "A Sense of Place," Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe,
NM
1991 "1991 Acquisitions," The Hallmark Fine Art Collection,
Kansas City, MO
1990 "Black and White Works by Important Contemporary Artists,"
Marlboro Art Gallery, Prince George's Community College,
Largo,
MD
1988 "Photographic Works," Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Santa
Fe, NM
1984 "Perspectives," Museum of the Big Bend, Alpine, TX
1983 "Down South," Old Opry House Gallery, Lajitas, TX
1973 Paseo Del Rio Photography Show, San Antonio, TX |
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Amon Carter Museum, Ft. Worth TX
Museum of Printing History, Houston
Sprint
Museum of Fine Art, Houston
Harwood Museum
Santa Fe Community College
Private Capital
Presbyterian Medical Services
Hale and Dorr
NASDAQ
Banana Republic
Saint Barnabas Health Care Systems
Museum of Natural History, Dallas
Museum of the Big Bend
Lajitas Museum
Hallmark Fine Art Collection
Hewlett Packard
United Parcel Service
Mount Sinai Medical Service
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I.Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
New Finds Gallery, Canada-Singapore
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