Tiamat Sculpture

Lee Hoag studied with several prominent, and influential artist - teachers: Hassel Smith (a first generation Ab Ex, who first taught there alongside Clifford Still and Mark Rothko in the late 40s), Tom Holland, William Geis, Carlos Villa, and Robert Hudson of the Beat era West Coast Funk Art, and a later Funk Surrealism, still having influence there during the second half of the 1970s, when a student at the San Francisco Art Institute. Interested in what Hoag terms, "Object Alchemy," he creates new amalgamate object forms from a collection of disparate "found" objects that are fitted together in such a way, the end result seems meant to be, altering perceptions, and challenging any pre-conceived notions of functionality and meaning. Art is a work of magic---between the artist and the artwork, between the artwork and the viewer.