When We Share Our Wounds | Nick Lee

3G Gallery

In Summit Artspace’s inaugural exhibition for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists , Nick Lee explores the presentation of traditionally underrepresented people throughout the history of Western art. This body of work seeks to better represent Japanese Americans through portraiture.

This body of work explores the presentation of traditionally unrepresented people throughout the history of Western art production as its subject. Through medium and large-scale figurative oil paintings, specifically portraiture, these paintings seek to better represent Japanese Americans, a culture that has been diminished in the traditional history of American portraiture. These paintings depict members of my family who have several shared experiences of Japanese descent living in America. This series also has multiple self-portraits to demonstrate the personal connection to these issues as the artist. Japanese Americans and other Asians groups should have more recognition and importance as the subject of American painting. Everyone should acknowledge how we have been represented in Western culture and the media. Most Asian American history gets shortened or forgotten. These works help to educate and inform about what was and has been for Japanese Americans. There must be a level of understanding of perspective from both sides. The two past years has been hard for many Asian Americans including the Japanese Americans, with the rise of hate crimes due to the blaming of the pandemic by former President Trump. When we as Americans can see people from all backgrounds in our media and paintings, then we can better understand them and relate to them as people. When we share our wounds, we can start a conversation that one might not have otherwise.  

-Nick Lee