Woodbury University is pleased to announce Michael Dee’s Peaches & Cream, a solo exhibition of 16 large-scale digital photographs and 3 cast metal sculptures, opening March 7, 2025 in the Nan Rae Gallery. This exhibition expands on Dee’s complex visual vernacular that includes an aesthetic derived from an inherent curiosity and a process-based approach to art making; Dee is equal part technical wizard and art impresario, his images originally derived from the picturesque natural world, yet reconstituted in the camera to reflect a deep and abiding commitment to the ever-shifting natural landscape seemingly under siege by the imminent danger of climate change and global warming.
Dee’s process is both investigative and strangely mythic — his approach more like a visual anthropologist than a straight-up photographer. The work also demonstrates a distinctly 19th century sensibility while also embracing a neo-conceptual aesthetic; one might even go so far as to describe Dee as a combination of Auguste Renoir and Andy Warhol. The attention to detail in the work is startlingly alive as each of the 16 large-scale photographs of hummingbirds appears hyper-realistic and very nearly alien. These are not literal documents of the natural world so much as they are a living tableau of a disappearing world. Dee creates a strangely idyllic space within the gallery where healing and reflection can occur amid the turbulence and painful realities of daily living. His sculptures of the snow-owl and penguin stand as immovable witnesses to both the passage of time and our own transitory nature as the world around us vanishes daily.
Michael Dee has exhibited widely in galleries and museums in London, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Seattle, Montreal, Osaka, and Cologne. His work is included in the Weisman Collection, The Joan Quinn Collection, The Long Beach Museum of Art, and the Perez Museum of Art.
Opening Reception:
Friday, March 7th, 6:00PM – 9:00PM
Exhibition Details
Hours: Thursday – Sunday: 12:00PM – 5:00PM
Location: Nan Rae Gallery, Woodbury University: 7500 N. Glen Oaks Blvd, Burbank, CA 91504
Learn more about the artist on his website:
Mike Dee