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Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park is “Waiting To Fly” with 2010 Featured Artist

HOUSTON (February 2, 2010) – Vic Lee is part athlete, part cartoon artist, part dreamer, part rebel, and part religious scholar; which equates to one seriously talented artist. His paintings reflect his life altering experiences through his quest to challenge his own deeply ingrained religious beliefs. Each painting has an accompanying “diary” that has helped Lee convey to his fans the meaning behind each work and his personal journey through life. This unique perspective and his stunning artistic capability has led him to be honored as featured artist of the nationally ranked Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park held March 26-28, 2010.

“Vic’s work is striking,” said Richard Fluhr, notable Houston artist and art collector who served on the Bayou City Art Festival artist selection jury. “We are thrilled with the featured artwork he created specifically for the upcoming Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park.”

Lee’s painting “Waiting To Fly” is the Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park’s featured artwork and will be displayed among his series of hauntingly beautiful acrylic and oil paintings at the Festival in March alongside a juried selection of 300 top galleried local, national and international visual artists at this top ranked three-day outdoor art festival.  As the featured artwork, “Waiting To Fly” will create a consistent theme across the Festival billboards, posters, programs and t-shirts.

A returning artist to Bayou City Art Festival, Lee has a special place in his heart for Houston. “Everything about the Bayou City Art Festival at Memorial Park has made it my favorite show of the year, from the gorgeous park setting, the staff, the talent of the artists showing, the educated and qualified collectors that attend to the city itself, and the adrenaline rush of the city’s unpredictable weather,” says Lee. “To be featured at this festival is something I'm not just ecstatic about - but humbled by.”
 
“Waiting To Fly” was created specifically for this Festival and is the final piece in a series Lee has titled, Diaries of an Evolution. Each element in the painting symbolizes attributes we possess as humans. The main focus of the work, the bull, represents beliefs we have held on to closely for various personal reasons. The title of the piece comes from the concept that everyone is searching for their own truth from different positions and that we’re all “Waiting To Fly” at the right time for our lives. The Houston downtown skyline painted in the artwork’s background brings this piece close to home as a truly one-of-a-kind piece.

Lee left college early to play out his dream playing soccer professionally. After a career-ending injury, he ventured out with a few business partners to open up a series of athletic clubs in San Diego. With no previous art training, Lee began drawing cartoons to advertise the health clubs in a non-traditional way. These cartoon advertisements gained popularity and within a matter of months, Lee began producing his own personal daily comic strip called “Pardon My Planet” that became syndicated and now runs in more than 150 newspapers across the U.S. In 2003, a situation that made him question his faith propelled Lee to bury himself in the study of theology and started to challenge ideals and beliefs that had been instilled in him since a young age. He felt an urge to begin painting and used this as an outlet to help him deal with the process of his own spiritual evolution and changing view of the world.

Vic Lee’s work has been featured in numerous national and international publications, from Juxtapoz and Vision magazines to Santa Fe’s weekly arts magazine Pasatiempo and from Architectural Digest to Art Buyer Magazine. In 2006, New York Arts Magazine and World Arts Media included Lee on the prestigious list of "Top 500 Artists Worldwide." His work can be seen at www.stvictordiaries.com.

Ranked #3 art festival in the U.S. by the readers of AmericanStyle Magazine, 13th Annual Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park is an award-winning one-of-a-kind outdoor art gallery that showcases local, international, and top galleried artists from all over the country. There will be an incredible selection of juried fine art by 300 artists representing 17 media formats, including clay, drawing/pastel, fiber/textiles, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor and wood.

In addition to this visual art feast, Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park features multicultural music and dance performances on the Houston Arts Alliance stage, international food and wine, interactive art at the Capital One Bank Creative Zone, and much more for art enthusiasts, festival fiends, and families to enjoy.

The City of Houston and Houston Parks & Recreation Department, Bud Light/Silver Eagle Distributors, Capital One Bank, Legacy at Memorial, Houston Chronicle, and Texas Monthly are among the Festival sponsors. The Festival is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

The festival is located in Houston’s beautiful Memorial Park located at S. Picnic Lane. There is no public parking in Memorial Park; however, the Festival provides a free, convenient shuttle service from 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Northwest Mall located at the 610 North Loop at 18th Street and shuttle service located at the Downtown Theatre District parking lot from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday only. Parking at the Northwest Mall is free and parking at the Downtown Theatre District parking lot will be at their standard rate.

Admission is $10 for adults and free for children 12 and under.
Festival hours are 10 am – 6 pm March 26-28, 2010.

More Info: 
E-Mail: info@bayoucityartfestival.com
Call: 713. 521.0133
Web site: www.bayoucityartfestival.com
Facebook Page: Art Colony Association 
Twitter: @houstonartfest 

*High-resolution photo available upon request