An Interview with the Digitally-Inspired Artist Austin Lee in Queens, New York

Austin Lee is an American artist known for his playful, airbrushed acrylics. Introduced by mutual friends in Lon- don, we met at his studio in Long Island City, Queens near to MoMa PS1 and the Noguchi Museum. Com- bining technology and art, Austin describes himself as “a computer nerd as well as an artist,” and the proof was in his digital preparatory sketches. Austin thinks of his cutting-edge paintings as sharing an isolated mo- ment, keeping it alive and making it timeless. As he sees it, “I’m always pushing forward, because art is a language that people add to. If people emulate my work then that’s a positive thing, it’s very complimentary.”