Nick Lee: Through Our Nikkei Eyes

“Through Our Nikkei Eyes” is a group exhibition highlighting artist Nick Lee with fellow Nikkei artists from around the United States. Nikkei describes Japanese and Japanese descendants living outside of Japan. This exhibition showcases Lee’s work in conversation with artists Gwen Waight, Joey Leppo, Akira Maynard, Matthew Hashiguchi, and Ritsuko Lee.

Through a variety of mediums, specifically assemblage-sculpture, drawing, printmaking, painting, animation, and documentary, these works explore the identity of Japanese Americans. With this exhibition, Lee also presents his relationship with public art projects. Public art is another avenue through which Lee introduces the community at large to his Japanese heritage in Northeast Ohio. Much of our experiences as Nikkei people are misunderstood or invisible to the average American. Through Our Nikkei Eyes aims to amplify our Asian voices, while also sharing our Japanese culture with the community in Akron.

“As Western perceptions of Japanese people are often that they are "foreign" or "unknown," I use portraiture to assert my sitter's full personhood. My paintings invite the viewer into a world of vibrant color palettes and playful compositions, asking them to get to know the community I am depicting.” — Nick Lee

About the artist Nick Lee:

Nick Lee (b. 1996) is a painter from Akron, Ohio. Lee received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Kent State University in 2021 and he is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa. Lee’s work is inspired by the diversity of human experience. As a Japanese-American, he strives to better represent minorities like himself in American portraiture and Western art. Another motivation for his work is self discovery. Lee uses symbolic Japanese objects in his paintings to connect with a culture that was never taught to him growing up. Lee is the 2023 recipient of the Distinguished Citizen for Art Education for the Northeast Ohio region by the OAEA. Lee is also the recipient of the 2024 Arts Alive Emerging Artist award by Summit Artspace.