Simon Lee Gallery is delighted to announce Screen Memory, a group exhibition that reflects upon how multi-generational artists have engaged with the complex notion of collective memory. Working across painting, photography, installation and video, the artists each have very distinct approaches yet collectively reveal the paradoxical ways in which individual and shared memories are retrieved and intersect.

The exhibition title Screen Memory is a Freudian term for a particular recollection that masks deeper psychologically significant memories. Within Freud’s theorem memories overlay and obscure each other, but vestiges of hidden layers rise to the top and coalesce. Here, the theory is used as a loose analogy for the ways in which shared and personal memories similarly commingle in the art object. It also refers to the kinds of flat surfaces and literal screens used within the exhibition – in this way, these screens can be seen as planes in which latent and manifest content are contiguous and the distinction between collective and personal content is blurred.

The appropriation art of the post-modern era tended toward a hijacking or disfiguring of mass media images and a sense of psychological distance. Screen Memory however focuses on the lateral and idiosyncratic aspects of quotation and recollection; from the flat effect of simulation and the disquieting effects of fragmentary reminiscence, to the absurd and humorous distortions and ruptures as familiar images intertwine with flights of imagination.

Richard Artschwager was born in 1923, Washington D.C and died in 2013 in Albany, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include Punctuating Space: The Prints and Multiples of Richard Artschwager, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, NY (2015); Richard Artschwager (Curated by Adam McEwen), David Nolan Gallery, New York, NY (2014) ; Richard Artschwager: No More Running Man, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY (2014); Richard Artschwager!, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany and Monaco National Musée Nouveau, Monaco (2012) and Hair, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (2010).

Wallace Berman was born in 1926, Staten Island, NY and died in 1976 in Los Angeles, CA. Recent solo exhibitions include Wallace Berman: Be-bop Kabbalah, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France (2010); Wallace Berman, 1926 – 1976, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY (2009); Wallace Berman, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK (2008); Semina Culture, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive BAM/PFA, Berkeley, CA (2006); Aleph - A Film by Wallace Berman, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY (2005); Wallace Berman - Art Is Love Is God - une introduction - 1957- 1976, Mamco - musée d´art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, CH (2000). Selected group exhibitions include Beat Generation, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2016); LA RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980: From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy, The Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA (2012); Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA and Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (2012); All of the Above: Carte Blanche a John M Armleder, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2011); Looking for Mushrooms, Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany (2008) and Trace du Sacre, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2008).

Sarah Cwynar was born in 1985, Vancouver, Canada and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include Presidential Index, Retrospective, Hudson, New York, NY (2015); FLAT DEATH, Foxy Production, New York, NY (2014), Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2013) and Everything in the Studio (Destroyed), Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam, NL (2013). Selected group exhibitions include Tell Me What I Mean. To_Bridges_, Bronx, NY (2016); L’Image Volee curated by Thomas Demand, The Prada Foundation, Milan, Italy (2016); Greater New York, MoMA PS1, New York, NY (2015) and Never Enough: Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (2014). In 2017 she will have a solo exhibition at the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany.

Jamian Juliano-Villani was born in 1987, Newark, NJ and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include The World's Greatest Planet on Earth, Studio Voltaire, London, UK (2016); Nudge the Judge, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany (2015); Crypod, JTT, New York, NY (2015); Detroit Affinities, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, MI (2015). Selected group exhibitions include ANIMALITY - A Fairy Story by Jens Hoffmann, Marian Goodman Gallery, London, UK (2016); FADE IN: INT. ART GALLERY – DAY, Swiss Institute, New York, NY (2016); A Shape That Stands Up, Hammer Museum (Off-Site), Los Angeles, CA (2016); Flatlands, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2016); Unorthodox, Jewish Museum, New York, NY (2015) and Greater New York, MoMA PS1, New York, NY (2015).

Mike Kelley was born in 1954, Detroit, MI and lived and worked in Los Angeles, CA from 1972 until his death in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions include Mike Kelley: Memory Ware, Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY (2016); Mike Kelley: Kandors, VENUS, New York, NY (2016); Mike Kelley, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2014), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2013), Museum of Modern Art/PS1, New York, NY (2013) and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL (2012); Mobile Homestead and Goin’ Home: Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead Videos and Documentation, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI (2013); A Tribute to Mike Kelley, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2012) and Mike Kelley: Kandors, Museen Haus Lange and Haus Esters, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany (2011).

William Leavitt was born in Washington, D.C in 1941 and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Recent solo exhibitions include Telemetry, Greene Naftali, New York, NY (2016); Sidereal Time, Institute of the History and Theory of Architecture, ETH, Zürich, CH (2014); William Leavitt: Theater Objects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2011) and William Leavitt: Warp Engines, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA (2009). Selected group exhibitions include Los Angeles — A Fiction, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (2016); On Limits: Estrangement in the Everyday, The Kitchen, New York, NY (2016); Fade in: Int. Art Gallery – Day, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, NY (2016); America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY (2015); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK (2014) and Taking Place, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL (2010).

Sherrie Levine was born in 1947, Hazelton, PA and lives and works between New York and Santa Fe. Recent solo exhibitions include After All, Neues Museum Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany (2016); Sherrie Levine: African Masks After Walker Evans, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2015); Sherrie Levine: Red Yellow Blue, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY (2014); Sherrie Levine, The Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (2013); Sherrie Levine: Mayhem, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2011); Pairs and Posses, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany (2010).

Dennis Oppenheim was born in 1938, Electric City, WA and died in New York, NY in 2011. Recent solo exhibitions include Projections, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2016); Difference Lab, MAMCO, Geneva, CH (2015); Dennis Oppenheim, MOT International, London, UK (2014); Through Collision Theories, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK (2013) and Museo Pecci Milano, Milan, Italy (2013). Selected group exhibitions include Forty, MoMA PS1, New York, NY (2016); Codex, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA (2014); Art or Sound, Fondazione Prada, Venice, Italy (2014); Monolithic Water, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, CH (2014) and Light Years, Conceptual Art and the Photograph 1964-1977, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2011).

Allen Ruppersberg was born in 1944, Cleveland, OH and lives and works in New York and Santa Monica, CA. Recent solo exhibitions include What is a Stamp?, Jumex Foundation of Contemporary Art, Mexico City (2015); The Singing Posters, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA (2015); FOR COLLECTORS ONLY (everyone is a collector), greengrassi, London, UK (2014); No Time Left to Start Again and Again, WIELS, Institute for Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium (2014); The Never Ending Book, Tate, St Ives, Cornwall, UK (2013); The Birth and Death of Rock n' Roll, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2013) and Camden Arts Centre, London, UK (2008). Recent group exhibitions include Codex, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2014); In Parts, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY (2013) and Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form, Fondazione Prada, Venice, Italy (2013).

Jim Shaw was born in 1952, Midland, MI and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Recent solo exhibitions include The End is Here, The New Museum, New York, NY (2016); Entertaining Doubts, MASS MoCA, West Adams, MA (2015); Jim Shaw, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2015); Jim Shaw: The Hidden World, Centre Dürrenmatt, Neuchâtel, CH (2014) and Chalet Society, Paris, France (2013); Jim Shaw’s Dream Drawings, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA (2012); The Rinse Cycle, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2012) and Left Behind, CAPC, Musee de’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2010). In 2013 his work was included in The Encyclopedic Palace at The 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy. In 2017 he will have a solo display of new works at The Marciano Foundation, Los Angeles, CA.

Elaine Sturtevant was born in 1924, Lakewood, OH and died in 2014, Paris, France. Recent solo exhibitions include Drawings: 1964-1994, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France (2016); The House of Horrors (le Train fantôme), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France, (2015); Sturtevant Sturtevant, Museo Madre, Naples, Italy (2015); Drawing Double Reversal, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany (2014), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany and Albertina, Vienna, Austria (2015); Double Trouble, MoMA, New York, NY (2014) and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2015); Leaps Jumps and Bumps, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2013) and House of Horrors, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany (2013).

Stephen Sutcliffe was born in 1966, Harrogate, North Yorkshire and lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. Recent solo exhibitions include Twixt Cup & Lip, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, North Yorkshire, UK (2016); Going Over, Rob Tufnell, London, UK (2015); Outwork, Tramway, Glasgow, UK (2013); Art in the Auditorium, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2010); Cubitt, London, UK (2009), Nought to Sixty, ICA, London, UK (2008) and Art Now, Light Box, Tate Britain, London, UK (2005).