Jason Lee Gimbel
Jason Lee Gimbel
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    • Painting
    • Drawing
    • Bio
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  • Painting
  • Drawing
  • Bio
  • Press
  • Contact

Known for his monumental figurative paintings, Jason Lee Gimbel renders full figure works through abstraction-expressionist brushwork and vibrant colors. His instinctual approach, random use of color and mark making pushes figurative work to the edges of representation and, in some instances, into abstraction. These painted drawings break up the surface through a visual harmony that disrupts the partially outlining figures, which provides the viewer with a complex balance between the merger of the figure and background.


In addition to painting, Gimbel creates classically informed drawings. He often depicts the human figure with the skin removed to display the musculature. These écorché drawings borrow from Greek mythology, classical sculpture and traditional figure drawing. He incorporates visual metaphors that explore the ephemeral qualities of the yellowing and degrading newsprint on which they are drawn. There is a playful juxtaposition of these large scale drawings with larger than life size staples, magnets and thumb tacks, an optical perception that is often associated with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.


Jason Lee Gimbel is a fifth generation Colorado native who graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver and studied Fine Art Drawing and Printmaking. Gimbel has participated in group shows in Denver, Colorado; Athens, Georgia; Astoria, Oregon. His work has been featured in the Manifest Gallery  International Painting Annual  publication (Cincinnati, OH), PoetsArtists figurative arts publication, and ArtMaze Magazine (London, UK). He has appeared in numerous shows with Space Gallery in Denver, CO. He previously hosted a non-instructive figure drawing workshop in Denver's RINO Arts District.

Education

BFA, Drawing & Printmaking, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, CO

AA, Arapahoe Community College, Littleton, CO 

Exhibitions

2021

  • Not Matilda, Marginal Showroom, Denver, CO
  • Salon des Refusés, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI
  • Reconnect: MSU Alumni Exhibition, Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO

2020

  • INPA9, Manifest Gallery | Publication, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • 12th Annual NUDE Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio

2019

  • Painting the Figure Now, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
  • Painted, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Painting the Figure Now, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI
  • If you want to see the Invisible, Ironton Distillery Gallery, Denver, CO
  • INPA8, Manifest Gallery | Publication, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Art of the State: A Juried Exhibition of Colorado, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Denver, CO
    Juror Collin Parson, the Arvada Center's Exhibition Manager and Curator
    Juror Joy Armstrong, curator at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
    Juror Daisy McGowan, director of the galleries at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs

2018

  • 28th Annual Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
  • The New Nude | Second Edition | Issue 97, Poets and Artists, Publication & Zhou B Haus der Kunst Artsy Gallery
  • Sex Drugs Rock & Roll, Hey Hue pop-up Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Figures & Chairs, Gallery 81435, Telluride, CO
  • Oranges & Sardines | 10th Anniversary | Issue 92, Poets and Artists, Publication
  • in SITu: From the Artist's Perspective, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Denver, CO
  • RECONFIGURED II, Space Gallery, Denver, CO

2017

  • The Best of 2017, Winter Group Show, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
  • And Longing is Overthrown, ATC DEN, Denver, CO
  • The Temple Group Show, Platte Forum, Denver, CO
  • The New Nude | Issue 86, Poets and Artists, Publication
    Curated by Walt Morton
  • Summer Issue 3, ArtMaze Magazine, Publication
    Juror Bree Delian, Director & Head Curator of Retrospect Galleries
  • The Best of 2016, Winter Group Show, Space Gallery, Denver, CO

2016

  • Abstraction & Representation: Finding Common Ground , Space Gallery, Denver, CO
    Windows to the Divine National Exhibition
  • INPA6, Manifest Gallery | Publication, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Drawing Never Dies, Redline, Denver, CO
    Jurors: Donald Fodness (artist) & Daisy McGowan
    Director & Chief Curator of Gallery of Contemporary Art, Colorado Springs, CO
  • RECONFIGURED, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
    Westword review by Michael Paglia
  • Art of the State: A Juried Exhibition of Colorado, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Denver, CO

2015

  • The Group Show, Pirate Associate Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Vault: MSU Alumni Exhibition, Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO
    25th Anniversary of the Center for Visual Art,

              Westword review by Michael Paglia

  • Art&Soul | Soul Struck, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
    Juror: Christoph Heinrich, PhD, Frederick & Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum
  • Jason Lee Gimbel @ Pirate Associate Gallery, Denver, CO

2014

  • Day To Day, The Temple, Denver, CO, Temple Arts Denver
  • Grand Re-Opening, 13 Years Celebration Group Show, 

              Space Gallery, Denver, CO

  • For Loss of Wonder, Pirate Associate Gallery, Denver, CO
    Westword review by Michael Paglia
  • COLLECT: The Art of Colorado Corporations,
    Corporations in partnership with NINE dot ARTS
    Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Denver, CO

2013

  • Local Showcase, Group Show, Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO
  • 30², Summer Group Show, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Museum of Broken Relationships, BMOCA, Boulder, CO
  • New Figurative Works, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
    Westword review by Michael Paglia
  • Associate Members Group Exhibition, Pirate Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Art of the State: A Juried Exhibition of Colorado,
    Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Denver, CO
    Juror: Dean Sobel, Director of the Clyfford Still Museum
    Collin Parson, the Arvada Center's Exhibition Manager and Curator

2012

  • A Broken Line, Underlined, Pirate Associate Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Dia de los Muertos, Pirate Gallery, Denver, CO
    Juror: Maruca Salazar, Director of Denver's Museo de las Americas
  • The Plastic Experience, Next Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Nudes Downtown: A Compendium of Art Inspired by Au Naturel
    Light Box Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR

2011

  • OCCUPY: This is What Democracy Looks Like
    Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Inc., Athens, GA
  • SYZYGY, Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Big Draw Little Draw, Abecedarian Gallery, Denver, CO
    Juror: Gwen Chanzit, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art
    for the Denver Art Museum
  • Impact: a tribute to E.C. Cunningham, Red Delicious Press, Aurora, CO
  • The Sketchbook Project, Art House Co-op, Brooklyn, NY

2010

  • 4th Annual Exhibition, Boxcar Gallery, Denver, CO
    Juror: Jim Robischon, Owner, Robischon Gallery
  • Denver Modernism Art Show, National Western Complex, Denver, CO
    Juror: Leanne Haase Goebel, Freelance Writer for Art Ltd.,
    Adobe Airstream & Huffington Post
  • Warholove, Niza Knoll Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Merge: MSU Alumni Exhibition, Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO
    Best of Devner Westword Group Gallery Award 2011
  • Locally Grown, Core New Art Space, Denver, CO
    Juror: Ken Hamel, Denver Arts Org
  • Body Worlds Sketches, DMNS/SCFD Booth, Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO
  • Small Works on Paper, Penn St. Perk, Denver, CO
  • WoW Show, Core New Art Space, Denver, CO
  • Naked: Semi-Annual Exhibition, Boxcar Gallery, Denver, CO
    Juror: Jenny Morgan
  • Metabolism: Solo Exhibition, Sync Gallery, Denver, CO

2009

  • Kitchen Sync: The Group Exhibition, Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Get into Sync: Grand Opening Group Exhibition, Sync Gallery, Denver, CO
  • TRACE(figurative), MSU Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO

1998

  • Regional Prints, Genre Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Artists at the 4th Story, 4th Story Restaurant, Cherry Creek, CO
  • Millennium Minumental “Pressed for Time”, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
  • Senior Honors Thesis Exhibition, MSU Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO
  • Annual MSCD Student Exhibition, Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, CO
    Jurors: Gwen Chanzit, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art
    for the Denver Art Museum
    Kathy Andrews, Director, MSU Center for Visual Art
    John Grant, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
  • BFA Thesis Exhibit, Metropolitan State University of Denver, CO

1997

  • The Metro Art Guild Exhibition, Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver, CO

1996

  • Cyber Markings, The Underground @ Edge Gallery, Denver, CO
  • Group Art Exhibition, The Colorado Gallery of the Arts, Littleton, CO

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