The Lee O’Neil Gallery displays ‘100 Suns’
On Saturday Nov. 14, the Lee O’Neil Gallery hosted “100 Suns” an exhibition by Tommy Lee, a third-year photography major at SCAD and co-owner of the gallery.
“I was playing with the house, which is a symbol in the paintings. I was playing with it, just trying to take it out of its puzzle and focusing on them. I did fifteen of them, 36′ by 36′ [inches] and it just wasn’t working,” said Lee, explaining how the idea for the show came about.
Lee’s exhibition was heavily inspired by Andy Warhol’s “Shadows,” an exhibition where Warhol painted 102 silk-screened and hand-painted shadows.
“One day I just painted a big sun. I just did that; didn’t use a tube, it was all brush stroke. It just felt so fluid. I started getting this idea that I wanted to do so many of them,” said Lee. During the process of painting these suns, Lee joked with his co-owner, Gwen O’Neil, about doing a show with 100 suns.
“This was so much more work than I thought,” shared Lee. “I did thirty and I was like, this is such a bad idea.”
Despite his doubts, Lee mentioned how the process of painting these pieces helped him grow as an artist.”Everyday I did them and kind of explored it a little more… it really pushed me to figure out what that symbol meant to me, in the larger context,” said Lee.
This is the Lee O’Neil Gallery’s third show, the first being their grand opening and the second “Color Fields.” “100 Suns” will be on display at the gallery — located on Bull Street at East 49th street — until the end of November.
For more information on The Lee O’Neil Gallery, upcoming exhibits and the artist, visit the gallery’s website.
Written by Asli Shebe.
Photos by Danielle McGotty.
Asli Shebe is a senior writing major from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She began working for District in 2014 as a staff writer, then copy editor, A&E editor, Chief Assignment editor and finally, Editor-in-Chief in 2017. Asli currently holds the record for obtaining the most job titles during her time at District. When she’s not writing for District you can find her biking around the Historic District of Savannah at odd hours of the day.
