Side Room is pleased to present its second exhibition, Marta Lee: Shelf Life. This show juxtaposes eight paintings made between 2017 and 2021, all of which explore themes of the street and the interior. These two concerns come together most poignantly in Lee’s meticulous and idiosyncratic still-lifes, which are composed of objects she finds in her daily travels or which in turn have deep personal significance.

The earliest work in the exhibition, Homage to Jasper, 2017, is painted on the back of a found puzzle box and depicts an alley in London which Lee passed the same day she visited a Jasper Johns show at the Royal Academy. Patches of clear scotch tape subtly echo the painted composition of a brick façade with its bright blue door. Already here one notices prominent features of Lee’s signature practice: the use and transformation of found materials, flattened compositions, a vibrant yet delicate palette, and depictions of personally significant places and objects.

This exhibition is alternately bookended by one of Lee’s newest works, Someone More Thoughtful (Here Goes Everything), 2021. This rich still life is dominated by large swaths of deep, matte blue and detailed textile patterns, interspersed with objects from the studio including an old keyboard, a floral handkerchief, a large cowrie shell, a hackey-sack and several balls of crumpled painter’s tape. A tube of “Chinese White” paint at the center of the com- position slyly invokes issues of both personal identity and art making which are often embedded in her works.

Typical of Lee’s working practice, several of the objects depicted in specific still lifes reoccur in others, objects which she may save for years and reuse multiple times. Two more recent works, much like Homage to Jasper, also focus on the street, in particular grates and manholes, whose flat patterns and textures lend themselves to Lee’s searching eye and loaded brush.

Marta Lee (b. Moscow, ID) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. She has participated in Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), Fire Island Artist Residency (Cherry Grove, NY), a UT Exchange fellowship at the Royal College of Art Sculpture Programme (London, UK), an Artist-in-Residence Fellowship at Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO), and a Guest Residency at Hercules Art Studio Program (TriBeCa, NY). Lee has exhibited nationally and internationally in Chicago, LA, Austin, New York, London, and Shenzhen. In the fall of 2020, Lee had a one-person exhibition at Geary Contemporary in Millerton, NY. She also works collaboratively with Anika Steppe under the moniker Frances Brady.

Marta Lee: Shelf Life is on view by appointment at 544 Pacific Street, #3, Brooklyn, NY. Side Room is a pop-up art space and curatorial project by Gilles Heno-Coe. For further information or to make an appointment, please contact Gilles at gilles@sideroomgallery.com.