Lee Walton
Encyclopedia
Lee Walton is an American artist whose work includes drawing
, concept based systems, performance, video art
, net art, and public projects.
and a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree from San Jose State University
. He is currently an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
.
Walton has lectured at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), Art in General
, The New School
, Portland State University
, Art Institute of Boston, University of Ulster
in Belfast
, Northern Ireland
, and Columbia University
.
; for every free throw by O'Neal, Walton attempted one, hoping to beat O'Neal's average.
In another piece, "One Shot A Day", Walton changed the rules of golf
and made a single swing each day. Playing 18 holes this way took him close to 5 months, from March 26 to August 15 in 2003. During that period, each day he published a video of his swing on his website.
"Red Ball" an online project of Waltons', presented by Silent Gallery. In 2001 Walton had an online project where he placed a little Red Ball at a specific location in the city of San Francisco. The location of where the Red Ball should be placed depends solely on the participation of the visitors.
"Wappenings" is a series of Web Happenings taking place in New York City. The Wappenings involve visitors of Walton's site, LeeWalton.com and call forth their participation in finishing the project piece. A new web page will announce an event that will or is happening. However, the Wappenings are usually not announced in advance, and at time never announced. As of 2004 this project is ongoing.
"Life/Theater" is an ongoing project since 2004. This project mixes 'real life' and 'theater'. Walton orchestrates a performances which involves carefully selected actors and numerous unknowing participants. The actors blend themselves in with the real characters and reveal themselves at the end of the performance. Walton exhibited Life/Theater in 2007 at Southern Exposure
in San Francisco.
In 2003 Walton began The City Systems. In this project, he creates a step-by-step manual to guide someone through a city, reaching specific and predetermined locations and experiences. The project was at first located just in New York, but has since created navigation guides for other cities as well.
"Union Square: Giving It Up For Life" is a project of his that included his leaving Union Square and never returning again.
In 2007, Walton came up with "Hillary Wiedemann: Living Record", a piece in which a public performance took place on the streets of New York, and the only witness was Hillary Wiedemann. Wiedemann, of Artist Space, would then become the only living record of this performance. This project emphasized how her memory and oral accounts would then be the only indication of if and how this performance existed.
The Serial Conversationalist was a project of Walton's in 2007 in which Walton would initiate conversations with people on systematically determined days and times, and on specific benches. The project was exhibited in "Character Reference."
Come On Pilgrim: A 110-Mile Exhibition, a project Walton took on in 2007, is an experimental piece of work created in New York. It is an audio and map companion that guides its visitors through six commissioned projects that are physically and strategically placed in route on the 110 mile long road between New York and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard).
"Stacked" took place in New York from May to September, 2005, as part of the exhibition "Sport." Walton purchased 35 pound plates in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, then walk them to the Socrates Sculpture Park where he stacked them on a vertical metal pole.
"Remote Instructions" is an 2007 and ongoing project of Walton's that is funded by Rhizome.org, New York. It is a web-central project that makes use of the web's communication and the spectatorship of its users. Walton would work together with strangers from around the world via the web and construct a video performances that take place in neighborhoods, cities, town and villages internationally. The projects created are exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art
in New York (2008).
for the New Museum of Contemporary Art
in New York.
Produceed in 2010, "The Rules for Staying Young" was a performance where Walton created a three by six module grid and created rules to the May 8, Met's vs Giants baseball game. Walton viewed the game live from his home and via skype watched as the installation crew (Benjamin Austin, Jacob Koestler, Jane Quartarone, Ryin Jones & Travis Ferguson) added to the grid from the rules given to them by Walton. The Performance was shown on may 7-30 at New Wilmington Art Association in Delaware.
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, concept based systems, performance, video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
, net art, and public projects.
Academic career
Walton holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the California College of the ArtsCalifornia College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...
and a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree from San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
. He is currently an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26...
.
Walton has lectured at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT), Art in General
Art in General
Art in General is a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space in New York, New York. Founded in 1981 in by artists Martin Weinstein and Teresa Liszka, Art in General is a nonprofit organization that assists artists with the production and presentation of new work...
, The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
, Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
, Art Institute of Boston, University of Ulster
University of Ulster
The University of Ulster is a multi-campus, co-educational university located in Northern Ireland. It is the largest single university in Ireland, discounting the federal National University of Ireland...
in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Projects
Much of Walton's work involves sports. For example, in 2004 to 2005 Walton organized a free throw contest with basketball player Shaquille O'NealShaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
; for every free throw by O'Neal, Walton attempted one, hoping to beat O'Neal's average.
In another piece, "One Shot A Day", Walton changed the rules of golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and made a single swing each day. Playing 18 holes this way took him close to 5 months, from March 26 to August 15 in 2003. During that period, each day he published a video of his swing on his website.
"Red Ball" an online project of Waltons', presented by Silent Gallery. In 2001 Walton had an online project where he placed a little Red Ball at a specific location in the city of San Francisco. The location of where the Red Ball should be placed depends solely on the participation of the visitors.
"Wappenings" is a series of Web Happenings taking place in New York City. The Wappenings involve visitors of Walton's site, LeeWalton.com and call forth their participation in finishing the project piece. A new web page will announce an event that will or is happening. However, the Wappenings are usually not announced in advance, and at time never announced. As of 2004 this project is ongoing.
"Life/Theater" is an ongoing project since 2004. This project mixes 'real life' and 'theater'. Walton orchestrates a performances which involves carefully selected actors and numerous unknowing participants. The actors blend themselves in with the real characters and reveal themselves at the end of the performance. Walton exhibited Life/Theater in 2007 at Southern Exposure
Southern Exposure
Southern Exposure may refer to:*Southern Exposure - a San Francisco non-profit art space.*Southern Exposure - a 2007 album released by FireHouse guitarist Bill Leverty...
in San Francisco.
In 2003 Walton began The City Systems. In this project, he creates a step-by-step manual to guide someone through a city, reaching specific and predetermined locations and experiences. The project was at first located just in New York, but has since created navigation guides for other cities as well.
"Union Square: Giving It Up For Life" is a project of his that included his leaving Union Square and never returning again.
In 2007, Walton came up with "Hillary Wiedemann: Living Record", a piece in which a public performance took place on the streets of New York, and the only witness was Hillary Wiedemann. Wiedemann, of Artist Space, would then become the only living record of this performance. This project emphasized how her memory and oral accounts would then be the only indication of if and how this performance existed.
The Serial Conversationalist was a project of Walton's in 2007 in which Walton would initiate conversations with people on systematically determined days and times, and on specific benches. The project was exhibited in "Character Reference."
Come On Pilgrim: A 110-Mile Exhibition, a project Walton took on in 2007, is an experimental piece of work created in New York. It is an audio and map companion that guides its visitors through six commissioned projects that are physically and strategically placed in route on the 110 mile long road between New York and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard).
"Stacked" took place in New York from May to September, 2005, as part of the exhibition "Sport." Walton purchased 35 pound plates in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, then walk them to the Socrates Sculpture Park where he stacked them on a vertical metal pole.
"Remote Instructions" is an 2007 and ongoing project of Walton's that is funded by Rhizome.org, New York. It is a web-central project that makes use of the web's communication and the spectatorship of its users. Walton would work together with strangers from around the world via the web and construct a video performances that take place in neighborhoods, cities, town and villages internationally. The projects created are exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art
New Museum of Contemporary Art
The New Museum, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to presenting contemporary art from around the world...
in New York (2008).
Performances
Produced in 2004, Up is approximately a two-minute video which takes place in New York. This video performance was created for the purposes of One Block Radius, an extensive psycho-geographic project created by GlowlabGlowlab
Glowlab was an artist-run initiative that produced and presented experimental work related to cities and psychogeography, including interactive artworks and projects, events, exhibitions, and artists' gatherings. Brooklyn artist and curator Christina Ray launched Glowlab in 2002 as an experimental,...
for the New Museum of Contemporary Art
New Museum of Contemporary Art
The New Museum, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to presenting contemporary art from around the world...
in New York.
Produceed in 2010, "The Rules for Staying Young" was a performance where Walton created a three by six module grid and created rules to the May 8, Met's vs Giants baseball game. Walton viewed the game live from his home and via skype watched as the installation crew (Benjamin Austin, Jacob Koestler, Jane Quartarone, Ryin Jones & Travis Ferguson) added to the grid from the rules given to them by Walton. The Performance was shown on may 7-30 at New Wilmington Art Association in Delaware.
Awards, Honors, and Commissions
- 2008 Commission, Jet Blue: Video Installation at JFK International Airport, Curated by Creative Time, New York, NY
- 2007 Commission, Rhizome at the New Museum of Contemporary ArtNew Museum of Contemporary ArtThe New Museum, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to presenting contemporary art from around the world...
, New York, NY - 2005 New Commissions • Art in General New York, New York
- 2005 Performa commission, New York, New York
- 2004 Visiting Artist Project, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis, Indiana
- 2000 Fellowship, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Guest lectures and panels
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
- Portland State University, Portland, OR
- PICA: Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR