Leelee Kimmel talks with Noah Becker about her show at the Journal Gallery's Tennis Elbow in Tribeca NYC

Artist Leelee Kimmel outside her opening at The Journal Gallery's Tennis Elbow, May, 2021 in New York, NY. Photo by Mark Carson courtesy of the Journal Gallery and Not For Them.

Leelee Kimmel: Tennis Elbow 39
April 30 through May 13, 2021
The Journal Gallery

By NOAH BECKER, May 2021

It was through Instagram and a general awareness of the artist Leelee Kimmel, that I fell in love with her paintings. After several months of looking and pondering, I decided to interview her for Whitehot Magazine around the time of her opening at the Journal Gallery's Tennis Elbow space in Tribeca, NYC.

NOAH BECKER: What is it about certain colors that you like more than other colors? Do you find that making a painting is kind of mystical in the sense of what colors to use?

LEELEE KIMMEL: I don’t favor certain colors - I actually love all colors. Some I like to make sing and some I like to mute...

NB: When critic David Rimanelli famously and eloquently said your work is "investigations of inner and outer space," how do you think about that, what drives your inner self? Are you working intuitively or do you plan out the works and have a clear idea at the beginning?   

LK: My paintings are a relief to me, in relief, (laughs) - but truly.  Heavy question... one I really want to answer for myself but I’m still trying to figure it out - it’s a mix of an idea and being completely lost in it.  
 

Leelee Kimmel Rosa, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 14 x 11 inches
 

No. 7, 2021 Acrylic, oil, oil stick and oil pastel on canvas 88 x 124 x 1.5 inches, courtesy of the artist.
 

Artist Leelee Kimmel in outside her opening at The Journal Gallery's Tennis Elbow, May, 2021 in New York, NY. Photo by Mark Carson courtesy of the Journal Gallery and Not For Them.
 

NB: Do you feel like the scale of your paintings changes the viewer's interaction with them? What kind of feeling do you want viewers to have when they encounter your paintings? Or do you not care what the viewer experiences? 

LK: I care. When I look at someone else’s painting I like to travel into it.  So I guess I want them to feel that too - a large size can help. 

NB: Is there a point where you know a painting is finished? People always ask me this question in relation to my own paintings. Do you just abandon a work at one point or is it difficult to know when something is completed?  

LK: I know when it’s completed but I don’t have a formula for this. When I have a failure I attack to destroy it but with the best intentions. 

NB: Where would you like to see your life 10 years from now? Or are you more of a person who likes to live in the moment and take everything day by day?

LK: I am for sure a day by day moment by moment terrible at planning person...(laughs) WM