Michael Lee

I create highly stylized and unrealistic landscapes to provoke a viewer's sense of what constitutes visual truth. They are theatrical spaces in which natural elements operate as outward manifestations of inner psychology. In my work it is intentionally unclear whether Nature or the human recording of it is responsible for creating obstacles to movement and vision. No vista opens up to allow a perch for peaceful contemplation. Space and perspective are awkward and claustrophobic. Figure and ground separate in some areas only to fuse together in others. Pattern, graphic form, serial imagery, and a limited, high contrast palette are devices used to both simplify and emphasize the artificial quality of the images.