Altamira Fine Art in Jackson Hole, WY is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Jivan Lee September 2-16, 2025. 

Please join us for the Artist Reception on Friday, September 5th from 5-7pm, during the Fall Arts Festival kick-off event, Palettes and Palates.

There will be an additional opportunity to meet the artist on Saturday, September September 6 at 11am, at the Artist Talk and Q&A in the gallery, Devotion and Grit: Painting Nature's Extremes in Pursuit of Awe. 

Uplift

“By structuring my creative practice around forms of repetition, I see a possibility for cultivating habits of curiosity and inquiry, habits that value nuance and depth as much as novelty. I can work on the deeper domains of relating to a place, to the creative practice, and to myself. My questions become more interesting, and the possibilities seem greater the more I do this. And that’s a valuable thing within my work as an artist.”   -Jivan Lee

In his latest body of work, Uplift, Jivan Lee explores the New Mexico skies over the course of the Monsoon season; dramatic summer storms bringing daily showers and thunderstorms that transform the landscape. Uplift is a double entendre. Speaking partially to the atmospheric dynamics at play but also to the power that the landscape holds to uplift us; to bring us to greater feeling and connection; to remind us of the vast dynamism that is our living breathing Earth- and to help us be moved to states of awe and even gratitude. “For me the West is a profoundly humbling and awe-inspiring place. There is an immediately apparent sense of scale and power that few places conjure like the American West. I go out painting and I’m working within places that are so much larger than me, so much older, bigger in every way. It’s hard not to be moved by this. My sense of my place in time and history is set  against the backdrop of Nature’s seemingly infinite unfolding.”, says Lee.

While known for his richly textured landscapes, this classification only skims the surface of his genre. “You could say that I chose landscape as a “subject” because I like being outside and because I’m interested in the artistic process as it relates to universal human experiences. The landscape is perhaps the most universal human experience, transcending all boundaries, times, cultures, and economic or political strata. In this light, it makes sense to paint in it and make work about it. What I’m conveying isn’t a place, it’s an experience translated into colors, gestures, shapes, and rhythms.”, the artist says.

Jivan Lee grew up in Woodstock, NY, and studied painting and environmental policy at Bard College. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibits and written about in Southwest Contemporary, The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Albuquerque Journal, Fine Art Connoisseur, Western Art & Architecture, and Phoenix Home and Garden among other publications. 

Pre-sales are available. Contact the gallery for details, 307-739-4700/ connect@altamiraart.com. 

Don't miss...

Devotion and Grit: Painting Nature's Extremes in Pursuit of Awe

Jivan Lee will lead an open Q&A and Artist Talk on his new exhibit, Uplift, featuring dynamic landscape paintings made amidst the summer thunderstorms of the American West. He’ll share an intimate view of his outdoor painting practice and trace the routes to awe and discovery that it offers. Starting at the thickly painted surfaces of the paintings and the imagery of vast vistas and weather that they present, he’ll unpack the creative process: from the body’s experience of a place, to the translation and sharing of powerful sentiment, to the many doorways of new understanding and personal transformation that open up along the way.