McKenzie Fine Art: James Lecce Exhibition 2004

55 Orchard Street, New York, New York 10002 212 989 5467 fax 212 989 5642


	James Lecce January 8 - February 7, 2004
	For all the optical punch and movement displayed in Lecce's roiling, vibrant paintings, there also exists a unified feel akin to that produced in sectioned and polished agate. Surface seduction and structural depth merge into an instantaneous aesthetic whole. These works, with their glossy surfaces and sui generis appearance, approach an aesthetic ideal in the same way a plastic surgeon’s constructions approach the physical ideal: in both cases, the presentation of an ostensibly effortless surface harmony belies a rigorous process of creation. Lecce carefully and slowly builds up seven layers of acrylic polymer emulsion, with the final, highly controlled layer fine-tuning the organic compositional elements below. The resulting paintings exhibit a flowing, alluring aura of pure plasticity that seems to simultaneously contain biology and refine it to a hyper-real level.