Lee Maxey

wait here

March 30 - May 11, 2024

View Works

Olympia is pleased to announce Wait Here, a solo exhibition of fifteen new egg tempera paintings and an artist’s book by Lee Maxey. This is Maxey's second solo exhibition with Olympia. 

Paranoia underlies Maxey’s new body of work. Painted in a matter-of-fact naturalism, ordinary objects are filled with an ambiguous, authoritative presence. Games like pick-up sticks and tricky triangle correlate with the weight and composition of religious iconography, while the unsettling gaze of a blood-eyed pigeon encourages us to decipher hidden messages in the work. Only one painting depicts a human figure – a suited man with his hand raised –  but a moralizing, irrational force lingers over every subject depicted. 

The titles of the works are named after common-place instructions like Take it from Here, Listen Carefully, and Move Ahead, sending viewers through a maze of riddles and paradoxes. Apocalyptic language is pushed into new, yet wholly familiar scenes. 

Also included in the exhibition is Maxey's artist’s book, My Character Notebook, an introspective pastiche of childhood memories and present day imagery in the form of an unbound personal scrapbook. Through a juxtaposition of penmanship exercises from elementary school with recent drawings and paintings, Maxey creates a biographical sketch; exploring her own indoctrination into Christian Evangelicalism, the nature of meaning-making, fear, and one’s own agency in the world. 

The works in Wait Here examine the origins of the American psychological experience. Made years after leaving the religious community, Maxey captures the fear that accompanies the doomsday narratives of her childhood and the anxious mindset that they cultivate. By borrowing as much from her own experiences as the visual details of everyday life, observational painting is transformed into talismans of a coded language, whose meanings are ultimately of one’s own creation.

Lee Maxey received her MFA from Boston University (2016) and her BFA from the University of Central Arkansas (2011). Selected solo and two-person exhibitions include: Olympia (Solo, New York, NY, 2024, 2021); 12.26 Gallery (Solo, Dallas, TX, 2023); Yutaka Kikutake Gallery (Two-person, Tokyo, JPN, 2023); the artist-run space Hercules Art/Studio Program (Solo, New York, NY, 2019). Recent group shows include: miart (Olympia, Milan, ITA, 2024); Felix Art Fair (12.26, Los Angeles, CA, 2024); Marathon Gallery (Ellenville, NY, 2023); Able Baker Contemporary (Portland, ME, 2021); The Bureau of General Services: Queer Division (New York, NY, 2019).

Forthcoming projects include: Deanna Evans Project (Group, New York, NY, 2024); KIAF (Solo, Olympia, Seoul, KOR, 2024); and artist-residency culminating in an exhibition at NARANJO 141 (Group, Mexico City, MEX, 2024-25).

A solo presentation of Lee's work at NADA Miami (Miami, FL, 2022) was selected for the Curated Spotlight by Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels. Maxey was an Artist in Residence at the Hercules Studio/Art Program (New York, NY, 2019) and at the Fire Island Artist Residency (Fire Island, NY, 2018). Maxey lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and teaches painting at Brooklyn College.