Last Glance
mixed media on panel, 14x15
2007
Artist Anthony Lee
Courtesy of Hearne Fine Art
Lee is a product of the legendary Central High School art program led for several years by Bill Hicks during the 1990's. Foregoing an art scholarship to the University of Memphis, Lee served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne for over 3 years. He has been featured in numerous exhibitions locally, honored by Metropolitan Bank with the Emmett O'Ryan Award for Artistic Inspiration in 2012. His Modern Hieroglyphics mural at Central Station in the South Main Arts District was recognized as one of the 40 most outstanding public art projects in the nation by Americans for the Arts for 2008. Last Glance typifies many of the series of works Lee produced in the 2000's, archival imagery of African American families taken from scrapbooks paired with vibrant color palettes inspired by the artist's longstanding relationship with St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. The scene is nostalgic and unresolved, leaving the viewer uncertain as to whether the mother and child are leaving Memphis or arriving.
