His name is Earl – and his photographs are being exhibited in the UK

Leica Gallery London has announced that it will be showcasing photographs by the actor, skateboarder, and photographer, Jason Lee, from May 12 until  June 11 2023.

This series is a product of the visual observations by Lee – best known for the TV show My Name is Earl and movies like Dogma, Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Incredibles – using his Leica camera while traversing the American landscape and harks back to his photography forefathers, such as the black-and-white work of William Christenberry. 

The ice-cool tones of the printing (also done by Lee) and often-deserted frames aim to deliver just the right amount of uncertainty. Lee’s shooting locations shown in this latest exhibit include New York State, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California.

For Lee, jumping in his car and driving around shooting is how he likes to occupy his time: 

“Since my first photographic outings in my native California in 2006, where I explored a more rural, perhaps neglected face of the state, and the many subsequent outings zigzagging through the west coast, the southwest, and Texas, I remain fascinated by the American landscape, by evidence of cancellation and departure and the environmental contradictions that make up our collective everyday view. 

These conflicts, at once strange and beautiful, this is where the questions are. It’s then and now splitting time, man and nature pushing up against each other, and progress forever forcing itself on the contented. And somewhere in the middle you make pictures.”

The exhibition will coincide with the release of Lee’s latest monograph TX | CA 17 published by Stanley / Barker. It contains images taken in the summer of 2017 on a drive from his adopted state of Texas to Los Angeles, where he had lived previously. 

The work is presented in rough chronological order – North Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, the Californian desert, and finally downtown LA. 

Prints from the exhibition will be for sale together with signed copies of the monograph and a limited amount of copies of In the Gold Dust Rush, also published by Stanley / Barker. 

For more information, visit the Leica Gallery London website.

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