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Art is a work of magic—between the artist and the artwork, between the artwork and the viewer. The primary idea informing and shaping these assemblage sculptures is what I call, the alchemy of objects. I have crafted them from a disparate collection of found objects, transforming the “ready-made” into the “handmade.” Each part, initially made for some other intended purpose and carrying along residual embedded meaning, is brought together through experimentation and intuitive invention to create a composite form—far-fetched from their original inherent nature. While attending to such formal concerns of form as: shape, line, material, and scale the essential ingredient is the transmutation of the object parts, in which new relationships emerge and meaning alters. Mass produced manufactured objects transform as they collectively become part of a new handmade fusion. Accompanied by degrees of vague recognition and familiarity, they become assimilated into this other created language of forms and associations, brought together and formed as art object. A dialogue ensues. Morphology altered, they exist now as noble objects of contemplation, eliciting interaction, bearing resemblance to that which comes from my unconscious self, shaped by the hand of my personal aesthetic, marked in some way by the viewer’s own response, imaginations and interpretations—changed.
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About The Artist
Lee Hoag was born in 1958 in Arizona. He is an artist known over the years for creating works in a variety of mediums: painting, sculpture, mixed media, installation, and video/image manipulation. He went to the San Francisco Art Institute, where in 1979 he received a B.F.A. in painting studied with famed instructors such as Hassel Smith, one of the pioneers and masters of West Coast Abstract Expressionism, Tom Holland and Sam Tchakalian, Funk movement sculptor-painters Robert Hudson, Carlos Villa, and Bill Geis.
Since 1992, his artwork has been exhibited throughout Rochester, where he lives and works as an ASL educational interpreter in area school districts. He has also exhibited in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, North Carolina, as well as several places throughout New York, including Made In New York 2012 and 1996 at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn. Most notably his work was shown in
Leipzig, Germany, where in a week long artist-in-residence invite by Gunther Huniat, Hoag created a new work for Kopf Los 2000, an annual invitational exhibition at Freiluftgalerie Stotteritz outdoor sculpture park. Most recently, two of his sculptures, Capsule Dream and Dream Drill were included last year in the 64th Rochester – Finger Lakes Exhibition at the Memorial Art Gallery. At the close of 2013 in the 23rd Annual Members Exhibition at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center, his sculpture, Frick No Frack, won the Dean Spong Collector’s Choice Award. In the 24th Annual Members Exhibition at RoCo, his sculpture, It’s A Snap, won the AXOM Gallery Award.
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Education
MST Art Education Rochester Institute of Technology 1992
BFA Painting San Francisco Art Institute 1979
Public Commissions / Installations
1999 Passage a temporary site specific, guerilla art installation, Pittlerstrasse, Leipzig, Germany
1996-97 verve a temporary site specific installation with Chris Kienke, Village Gate Square, Rochester, NY funded by NYFA Special Opportunity Stipend grant.
1996 Artist’s Garden Project ~ Uproot a temporary installation, Highland Park Conservancy; Lilac Festival, Inc.; Monroe County Parks Department, Rochester, NY
Grants / Awards
2014 AXOM Gallery Award 24th Annual Members Exhibition Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, NY
2013 Dean Spong Collector’s Choice Award 23rd Annual Members Exhibition Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, NY
1997 Director’s Honorable Mention Fin de Siecle — End of the Century, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
1996 Special Opportunity Stipend New York Foundation for the Arts / New York State Council of the Arts / Arts & Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, Rochester, NY
One Person Exhibitions
2015 Lee Hoag: Object Alchemy, AXOM Gallery and Exhibition Space, Rochester, NY
2014 Lee Hoag: Sculpture Combines, Our House Gallery, Veteran’s Outreach Center, Rochester, NY
2013 Lee Hoag: Alchemy of Objects, Rosalie “Roz” Steiner Art Gallery, GCC, Batavia, NY
2011 Lee Hoag: Lost & Found, Four Walls Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
1999 a k a bill hoag, Mercer Gallery, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY
1996 a k a bill hoag, NOFO Gallery, Wilmington, NC
1995 Bill Hoag: Erotic Abstraction, Rush Rheese Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
1993 Bill Hoag: Fetishes, Icons and Talismans, Arterior Motives, Rochester, NY
1992 Bill Hoag:Eleven, Carpe Diem, Rochester, NY
Invitational Exhibitions
2000 Kopf Los – 2000 Freiluftgalerie Stotteritz, Leipzig. Germany
1998 Genesee Valley Sculpture Invitational Lederer Gallery, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY
1997 Rochester Artists Invitational Second Floor Gallery, Center at High Falls, Rochester, NY
1996 Harvest Gallery 53, Cooperstown, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 64th Rochester – Finger Lakes Exhibition Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
2012 Made In NY 2012 Schweinfurth Memorial ART Center, Auburn, NY
2010 Rochester Erotic Arts Festival Harro East Ballroom , Rochester, NY
2007 Salon des Refusés / Finger Lakes Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
2007 DACE (Digital Arts Competition and Exhibition) RIT and Gallery r, Rochester, NY
2001 Hot Artworks Now Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
1999 Relics & Icons Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
1998 No England, No Amsterdam III Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
1998 Black Velvet & Other Tactile Delights Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
1997 New Work ‘97 Artspace, New Haven, CT
1997 Fin de Siecle – End of the Century Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
1997 Tools of the Trade: All Teched Out in the 21st Century Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY
1997 Boxes, Books and Altars Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
1997 a k a: an artists’ collective, Olean Public Gallery, Olean Public Library, Olean, NY
1996 gravity: a k a @ the T House Tea House Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
1996 Made In New York ‘96 Schweinfurth Memorial ART Center, Auburn, NY
1995 Process – Generation, Degeneration, Regeneration – an installation with Todd Smith Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY
1995 In, On, Above, Beside, and Beyond Schweinfurth Memorial ART Center, Auburn, NY
1994 New Directions ‘94 Barret House Galleries, Dutchess County Art Assoc., Poughkeepsie, NY
1994 Art As Healing Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY
1994 Finger Lakes: Salon des Refusés – aka group show Tea House Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
1993 Group Show Student Union Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
1993 52nd Rochester Finger Lakes Exhibition Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY Curatorial
1997 Forms of Abstraction: Twelve Sculptors Second Floor Gallery, Center at High Falls, Rochester, NY
1997 a k a: an artists’ collective Olean Public Gallery, Olean, NY invited by Sara Kellner, Visual Arts Director, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
Lectures / Presentations
2011 Lee Hoag: Lost & Found FourWalls Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
1999 a k a bill hoag Mercer Gallery, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY
1996 a k a bill hoag Art Dept., University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC
1997 a k a: an artists’ collective, Olean Public Library, Olean, NY
1995 Bill Hoag: Erotic Abstraction Rush Rheese Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
1994 Art As Healing, Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY
Publications / Reviews
Hoag:Sculpture Combines – City (Rochester, NY) December 2014- Rebecca Rafferty
Beautiful Thug – Pop Wars – blog (Rochester, NY) December 2009 – Paul
No Jacket Required – City (Rochester, NY), December 2009 – Rebecca Rafferty
Rochester Contemporary Members Show – City (Rochester, NY) December 2008 – Rebecca Rafferty
Thrift Store Meets S&M – The Monroe Doctrine MCC (Rochester, NY), October 1999 – Lisa Carino
Cultural Dominance – City (Rochester, NY), September 1999 – Jim Buck
All Teched Out: Pyramid Looks At Change – City (Rochester, NY), August 1997 – Ron Netsky
Eleven Artists Look At MAG and Art In Rochester – Lake Effect Magazine (Rochester, NY)
November 1996 – Donna DePalma
Making Art At Pyramid – City (Rochester, NY) February 1995 – Donna DePalma
Before, During and After -Democrat & Chronicle / Times Union (Rochester, NY), 2/1995 – John Worden
Sharp Sticks On the Road To Health – City (Rochester, NY), June 1994 – Jane Culbert Notides
New Kid On the Block – Democrat & Chronicle / Times Union (Rochester, NY),
March 1993 – Elizabeth Forbes
Exhibit At Art Attack Showcases Work / Three Artists – Chenango Valley News (Hamilton, NY),
February 1993 – Sabrina Vouvoulias
Private collections: California, New York, North Carolina, Germany, South Korea