THANIEL ION LEE BIO
Date of birth - 06/13/1976 in Portsmouth, VA
Lives and works in Louisville, KY
Education
Indiana University Southeast, 1995 – 2003, undergraduate study in Fine Arts
Solo Exhibitions/Featured Artist
2023 Blood Vessels - Fifteen-Twelve Gallery, Louisville, KY
2022 Recent Apparitions - Fifteen-Twelve Gallery, Louisville, KY
2022 Untitled - Moremen Gallery, Louisville, KY
2019 Speed Museum - 2019 Bacchanal
2018 THE IDEAL VIEWER, KMAC Museum, Louisville, KY
2017 New Cosmic Horrors, Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2016 New Cosmic Horrors, SBCAST, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 Dimensions Variable, Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2013 I Guarantee You Will Be Disappointed, Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2012 Works On Canvas, Kentucky School Of Art, Louisville, KY
2012 Monsters and Entities, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN
2011 An Imperfect Circle, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2010 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Pursuing a Career in the Arts, New Albany, IN
2009 Hyper Pretty, Gallery Two Sixteen, New Albany, IN
2008 All Your Questions Will Be Answered, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2007 Sex, Politics and Religion, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2006 The Importance of Knowing One’s Self, enROUTE gallery, Indianapolis IN
2005 To Find Comfort in One’s Own Skin, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2003 Document, Artswatch, Louisville, KY
2000 Handscapes, The Howard/Minton room at Indiana University Southeast New Albany IN
Group Exhibitions
2026 Market Boom: Emerging artists from Louisville's East Market District 2000-2008, Curator and exhibiting artist, WheelHouse Art, Louisville, KY
2023 All Today’s Parties: NFT Digital Art x Physical Art, WheelHouse Art, Louisville, KY
2021 I Do Not Ask Any More Delight: the body and contemporary intimacy, Quappi projects, Louisville, KY
2019 Cardinal Moments, Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2017 Greetings From the Anthropocene, Gallery 110, Seattle, WA
2016 Artist: Body, Lexington Art League, Lexington, KY
2014 WORD. OBJECT. , Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2014 PRESS, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Craft, Louisville, KY
2014 Identity traveling exhibit, various locations, KY
2013 Welcome Neighbors - ART FROM NULU, the Speed Museum, Louisville, KY
2013 New evoLOUtion, the BROWN Gallery, Louisville, KY
2013 Public@PUBLIC, LVAA, Louisville, KY
2012 Unititled Group show, Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2012 Painted Portraits - City/Self, Carnegie Center for Art and History. New Albany, IN
2012 Under Cover, Swanson Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2011 Resound Festival, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK
2010 The Creativity Rising Project, The Phoenix Hill Neighborhood, Louisville, KY
2010 1st Doodle and Sketch Art Invitational, Derby City Espresso, Louisville, KY
2010 Trees Are Poems, Gallery 227, Louisville, KY
2010 He Said She Said, River Bend Winery, Louisville, KY
2009 KY Jelly, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2009 Body and Soul with Dylan Mortimer, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2009 Press ON with Paul Neufelder, enROUTE Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
2008 Inner Noise, Caladan Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2008 Annual Artist Showcase, Actors Theater of Louisville, Louisville, KY
2008 Imagine, Art Auction for St. Francis High School, Louisville, KY
2007 Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Seattle, WA
2007 Kentucky Eye & Ear Kontrol IV, Butcher Block Gallery, Louisville, KY
2007 Different Strokes For Different Folks with Paul Neufelder, Arthur M. Glick JCC, Indianapolis, IN
2006 In My Skin: Self Portraits, Brewhouse Space, 101 Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2005 Annual Artist Showcase, Actors Theater of Louisville, Louisville, KY
2005 M: Art After Minimalism, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2004 The Language of Adam, New Center for Contemporary Art, Louisville, KY
2003 Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow [Repeat], Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2003 Kentucky National, The Clara Eagle Gallery at Murray State University, Murray, KY
2003 New Artist, New Work, New Name, Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, KY
2002 Thaniel Ion Lee and Paul Neufelder, Harrison Center for the Arts, Indianapolis, IN
2002 cuntcorpusgimp with Beth Teaford, Artswatch, Louisville, KY
Grants/Awards
2007 Polaroid Corporation, Frame Donation
2007 VSA of Indiana, Artistic Development Grant
Press
Glass Breakfast - 2020
Montecio journal, 2016
The Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper, 2011
Adondelaviste, online review, 2010
Supersonic Electronic, online review, 2010
A Drink Of Iced Tea, online review, 2009
Wooster Collective, online review, 2009
Villionaire: Louisville's Rich Arts Culture, 2009
Slash Seconds Magazine, 2009
Color Of Darkness, online review, 2009
Louisville’s Eccentric Observer Magazine, 2008
Louisville’s Eccentric Observer Magazine, 2007
Flying Colours, online review, 2007
The Aesthetic Poetic online review, 2007
Davide Gazzotti online review, 2007
SiouxWIRE, online review, 2007
La Meta Oscura online review, 2007
Wooster Collective online review, 2007
The Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper, 2004
Horizon, 2000
10 Questions with Thaniel Ion Lee
Outside of art, what hobbies do you have, or how do you like to spend your free time?
I like to make music and read articles on art. I wish I could say I gardened or cooked, but im bit of an art nerd. Almost all hobbies involve art making.
What do you like to listen to while working in your studio?
I mostly listen to either silence or paranormal podcasts
Do you have any pets?
I have three wonderful cats, and they are very much spoiled.
What is your favorite [book, movie, or television show]?
My wife and I are currently binging Shameless
If you could be any animal, what would you be?
I'd be either a house cat or a tardigrade
Do you have a personal motto, mantra, or philosophy on life?
No. Mottos and mantras are for politicians, cults, and salesmen, but if I did have one, it would be, Don’t be an asshole.
Do you believe in the power of manifestation?
No. I believe in the power of hard work and networking.
If you could have one superhero power, what would it be?
Teleportation would be fun.
Do you ever play out any unusual fantasies in your head?
Yes, but who doesn't? My weirdest art-related one involves putting a work of art in space or staging a show in London, UK.
What is your quirkiest hidden talent?
I can play harmonica just good enough to fake it.
What is one skill would you like to master?
Networking with curators.
What is your favorite food/restaurant?
I’m a simple man, any decent steakhouse will do, but I also love indian food.
What is your favorite sport?
Roller derby
What do you daydream about?
Having a proper studio and enough money/connections to accomplish some of my bigger ideas. That and traveling in a Winnebago with my wife and cats.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
On a personal level, it's marrying my wife, on an artistic level its sticking at it for 20 plus years.
What is your astrological sign?
Gemini
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Intellectual boring art, and the paint pouring art you used to see everywhere.
Do you collect anything?
I mostly just collect dust lol j/k. I collect medical books made before 1980, and when I find them on the cheap, I also collect M.U.S.C.L.E.S and other similar figures.
What is one thing you tried and will never do again?
Riding to AR and back in one day. My hips were killing me.
What is the weirdest hobby you’ve tried?
RC car racing, it's fun, but too expensive to be enjoyable in the long run
What is something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t tried yet?
Pottery, I did some in college, but I didn't have a chance to really dig into it. That and metalworking.
What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?
I haven't been to a concert in years, but Weird Al was a blast.
If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
May Contain Nuts
What was your first job?
I've never had a day job, but I used to, on occasion, teach special needs students art.
What was the worst job you ever had?
For a very short period of time, I attempted to be a website designer, but the only customers I could get were the kind that were allergic to paying invoices.
What is at the top of your bucket list?
Visiting other countries and traveling in general.
What fictional character do you most relate to?
I’m not sure, maybe Pinocchio
If you could meet up with any celebrity for coffee, who would you choose?
Dead - Lawrence Weiner
Alive - Iggy Pop
Which famous historical person would you want to spend the day with?
Eric Satie
If you could time travel, would you go to the past or the future?
The future
Above: Thomas Kinkade, Christmas Evening
Have you ever disliked something and then changed your mind?
I used to hate Thomas Kincade, I still hate him, but I don’t hate his art as much as I did. He was an artist of his time and place, and if I can love Ad Reinhardt’s black works, then other people can love his art.
Do you believe in ghosts?
Yes, i actually saw one or two, plus my wife used to live in a haunted house.
Do you think dreams have hidden meanings?
No, but I wish they did.
What do you think happens after death?
We fuse with God, and we understand everything.
What is your most irrational fear?
That we are all just characters in someone else's dream, and at any moment they may wake up.
What would be the title of your memoir?
Keep your gimp hand strong
Where do you go when you need fresh inspiration?
Art history books, beat poetry, political speeches, and books on typography
What’s your go-to guilty pleasure?
80s thrash metal, and ultra-lofi indie-rock
What is the best advice someone has ever given you?
Stick at it.
If your younger self could see you now, what would they be most surprised by?
That I’m married and living away from home.
Do you believe in luck, or do you think we make our own?
Luck is for rich kids and people who live in LA or NYC. The rest of us barely sleep, network, and work our ass off.
What’s a smell that instantly takes you back to a memory?
I grew up around old hippies, so it's the smell of cheap weed and bonfire smoke.
Do you remember the first piece of art that moved you?
Anything by Chagall
What’s your go-to karaoke song (or one you’d secretly love to try)?
ICE ICE BABY is my go-to; that and just another manic Monday.
If money and time were no object, what hobby would you dive into?
Chapbook publishing
What’s the kindest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
Give me money when I couldn’t afford my medication, and let me show my art when I didn’t know what I was doing.
What conspiracy theory (real or silly) do you secretly want to be true?
Bigfoot, or any large cryptid.
What’s the most unusual place you’ve ever felt inspired?
The bus
What’s a food you loved as a kid but can’t stand now?
Smoked sausage
Do you think your dreams influence your creativity?
Sometimes, but I usually can't remember my dreams.
What’s one small daily ritual you can’t go without?
Checking my email, and/or sketching
If you could erase one trend (past or present) from existence, what would it be?
Meme art
What do you think your life soundtrack would sound like?
1990s drum-n-bass, drone music, and early industrial music
Do you believe in fate or pure coincidence?
No, i believe in putting yourself out there and networking.
If you could bottle one feeling and keep it forever, what would it be?
Falling in love
What fictional world would you most like to visit?
Star Trek or Blade Runner
What’s the best advice you’ve ever ignored?
Get a business degree
Do you have a favorite word or phrase that you just love the sound of?
May the road rise for you
If your art had a smell, what would it be?
Somewhere between freshly cut grass and sex.
State-wide Exhibit Showcases Kentucky Artists With Disabilities
By Erin Keane
Published January 15, 2014 at 8:12 PM EST
The Kentucky Arts Council is curating a traveling exhibit of visual art by Kentucky artists with disabilities, and the first stop is Louisville. The “identity” exhibit will open first at Weber Gallery, the storefront gallery run by the Council on Developmental Disabilities.
The gallery specializes in collaborations between Louisville’s professional artists and artists with disabilities. But the 30 artists in this juried show represent a diverse body of Kentucky artists - some well-established, others showing for the first time - who self-identify as a person with a disability.
“I would just say I’m an artist who just happens to have a disability,” says Louisville artist Thaniel Ion Lee, who has two pieces in the exhibit. “I view [the show] as a way to meet other artists. Any way I can get my art seen by other people is a good thing.”
Lee, who often shows his work at Swanson Contemporary Gallery in NuLu, has two pieces from his “Fake Paintings” series in the exhibit. They’re digital images printed on industrial masonite.
“They look very much like paintings, but when you come up to them, you see they’re printed,” he says. “I’m just always interested in making things that look like one thing that aren’t.”
Although he involves his wheelchair in some of his photography and performance work, Lee says his physical disability, which limits his mobility, mainly informs how he creates – for example, when he uses a digital tablet to create “fake paintings.”
“It’s a physical process issue,” he says. “I guess it is about having a disability as a default. If I could make the kinds of paintings I’d want to make easily, I’d never have to use the digital stuff. But then again, using the digital stuff opened up opportunities of things I couldn’t do with the paintings, the layering and stuff like that.”
The exhibit opens Friday at Weber Gallery (1151 S. 4th St.) with a public reception, 5:30-9 p.m. It will travel the state, with stops in Bowling Green and Lexington, later this year. Some pieces will appear in the offices of the Kentucky General Assembly during the legislative session.
The exhibit is funded by grants from the National Arts and Disability Center and the National Endowment for the Arts.
