Hannah Lee, Magic Shell
May 6 - 21, 2022
Magic Shell displays Hannah Lee’s newest body of work that she created over six weeks as an artist-in-residence at The LINE Hotel’s Austin Artist Residency sponsored by Big Medium. Curated by Caroline Frost, Magic Shell features eleven oil paintings that build upon Lee’s exploration of the discrepancies between how we perceive ourselves, how we present ourselves based on that self-perception, and how that presentation is perceived by others. Through her practice, Lee attempts to reconcile those disconnects by tapping into the moment between looking and interpreting.
Turning inward, Lee wrestles with the idea that how others perceive her as a person is often in contradiction to their interpretation of her artwork. Magic Shell explores the human tendency to make judgments about one’s internal faculty based upon external characteristics, whereas the truth is often found in the space between our intention and another’s interpretation. In this body of work, Lee expresses her fascination with the body’s role both as a complex organism and as a signifier of our identities.
The featured work reads as vignettes of intimate moments with the body and other objects we encounter as we acquire information regarding notions of the Self and of others. Magic Shell celebrates the unremarkable moments we spend in a truly remarkable anatomy, while embracing that we often never fully understand ourselves, others, or the bodies that carry us through life.
Photographs by Laurel Coyle