Lee Wells (b.1971) is a conceptual artist based in New York and Athens Greece. His work ranges from painting, drawing and photography to video and new media. His oeuvre focuses primarily on systems of power and control in society and has been presented internationally for over 30 years including The Guggenheim Museum, PS1/MoMA, 51st Venice Biennale, The State Hermitage Museum and featured by The Golden Globes.

Since the 1990's Wells has stood at the frontier of digital and traditional art. His latest series investigate the act of painting through the influences of new technologies, including AI on contemporary life and asks the viewer to reevaluate their sense of reality and personal identity. The complex nexus of relations today become even more perplexed when it comes to art, because art is not a reality, but ‘a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand’ according to Pablo Picasso. The relations between the imaginary and the real, to which the juxtaposition between art and reality belongs, are examined by Wells as a kind of critical exercise. He prompts us to question the limits of the deceptive operations of perception, thereby encouraging us to confront the sublime complexities of our modern existence.

Text from https://ifacarts.com/artist/lee-wells