NEW YORK— For “Paranoid,” his second solo show at Freight + Volume, Michigan-born, New York–based artist Jim Lee has recast the Chelsea exhibition space as an active construction site. The entryway is blocked by the diagonal supports for a partially constructed wall, and the gallery reception desk has been obstructed by plasterboard, with only a sliver left for the staff to peer through.

These alterations offer a humorous reprieve from the traditional use of a white exhibition space, but for all its structural play, “Paranoid,” on view through April 4, does focus on showing artworks. The exhibition's centerpiece is an imposing five-foot-square painting affixed onto an awkwardly slender, precariously leaning plywood plank. The painting shows distressed patches of white and blue floating in a field of gray, and the plank invokes feelings of grandeur despite its rough-hewn construction. 

This work, like much of Lee’s output, walks the line between painting and sculpture. Lee often adds constructed elements to the substance of many of his paintings, pushing the formal conventions of his work through the inclusion of unexpected found materials — wood, sawdust, vinyl, stainless steel, insulation foam, and soiled canvas — in a practice reminiscent of the Arte Povera movement of the 1960s. In other works, recalling Claes Oldenburg’s soft sculptures, he plays with the idea of flexibility vs. rigidity by using soft materials that have been given a hard outer surface through the application of paint.

The dichotomy at the heart of the show — between playful construction and serious formal investigation — is echoed in several pieces that feature a bifurcated composition. Pride and Shame (2009), a knee-high sack filled with bubble wrap, has been split by a bold diagonal, with one half colored metallic silver, the other with antique yellow. In Evil Twin (2008), a black canvas has been stretched over a layer of batting to create an oval-shaped object roughly the size of a pillow whose vertical seam peaks through the surface.

Here, Lee selects more shows to see this weekend in New York:

1. Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective at the Museum of Modern Art, through May 11
“The title wall of exhibition posters alone gave me more than I could have expected. And the drawings? Holy crap. Combine that with a nearly unhealthy obsession with the Ford Capri and you got one heck of an artist.”

2. Ridley Howard at Leo Koenig, through April 11
“The surfaces of these paintings are stunning: grand scale, cinematic crops, yet all the while an intimate encounter. Abstract planes of a vermillion stripe blanket, pinkish underpinnings… I feel naughty just writing about this work, let alone viewing it.”

3. Lisa Kirk: House of Cards at Invisible-Exports, through March 29
“So I walk in and a ‘sales specialist’ immediately descends upon me, and before I know it I’m being led through this beautifully ramshackle constructed time-share: dining area to my right, sleeping/daybed to my left. Shower is a galvanized bucket and a hose. Comes complete with its own bar and one bottle of wine. I try to make my way out but get cornered, and in the end Luella talks me into it. For $199.99 I got the final week of June locked up for me and the Mrs.”

4. Francesca DiMattio at Salon 94 Freemans, through March 13
“Didn’t get the chance to make it to the uptown location (both locations feature DiMattio’s work). I typically don’t look at this type of painting for too long, but these are worth remembering. Biggish paintings with a mature neutral palette — just enough color to stick around… As in an archaeological dig, forms are painted over, yet traces of the under painting remain. Figure 4 has a great diagonal slice on the right side.”

“I had a hard time staying within the rules of mentioning just five shows, so here are a few more:”

5. Chris Martin: Works on Paper at Mitchell-Innes & Nash (uptown), through March 27
“Love the drawings, but wish they weren’t in frames.”

6. John Gerrard at Simon Preston Gallery, closed
“I know this show will be down when this is published, but I still want to give a nod to Oil Stick Work (Angelo Martinez/Richfield, Kansas). The use of time is effective, but not overly clever or ham-fisted in any way. When I viewed it, the virtual barn/silo looked like some giant Ellsworth Kelly painting sitting in the middle of a cornfield.”

And speaking of…
7. “The Ellsworth Kelly drawings at Matthew Marks on 22nd Street (through April 11) are of the vintage usually seen only in picture books, but now you can get the up-close-and-personal version!”

8. “At Luxe Gallery, the blacked out door for the Alive! show (through March 29), though not an intentional part of the exhibition, is great use of Gaffer’s tape and black foam-core.”

Also check out:
9. “The painting by Kirk Hayes in the show A Brief But Violent Episode at Sunday (through March 22); Linked: Small Works, Big Ideas at Heskin Contemporary (through April 4); and the drawings by Dana Dart-McLean and Jessica Jackson Hutchins in the project/bathroom space at Small A Projects.”

And finally:
10. “The ‘Internet café’ on Eldridge between Delancey and Broome. When I passed, the door was open, and it was really dark except for the glow of about six monitors and a giant fish tank against the far wall. I know it’s not an art exhibition, but maybe it should be.”