Artist Nikki Lee was born Lee Seung-Hee in Kye Chang, Korea, 1970. After completing her masters degree at New York University in 1997, she gained international attention for her photographic series Projects, for which she used herself as the main subject. This self-as-subject technique is furthered in her new documentary a.k.a. Nikki S. Lee, which depicts real events in her personal and professional life over the past two years as she negotiates the professional art world as an up-and-coming talent. Her dealings with buyers, collectors, curators, gallery owners and patrons are all captured on digital video, along with various extracurricular activities such as a stab at acting during the Pusan Film Festival in Korea, a serenade in a Venetian gondola, the Haute Couture fashion show in Paris. As the main subject of most of her own work Lee takes on a variety of identities ranging from demure Asian stereotype to East Village punk to trailer park denizen, proving herself as fine and versatile a model as any. Her photographic series The Yuppie Project, one of her first projects after grad school, depicts her time spent among Wall Street professionals and stands as a unique and thoughtful exploration of “whiteness.” This ability to explore the obvious to reveal complexities beneath the exterior is showcased when action and dialogue are added, as in a.k.a Nikki S. Lee, which premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art last month. Ms. Lee has exhibited at Washington, DC’s Hershhorn Museum, the Guggenheim and Metroplitan Museums in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Fransico Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The artist will discuss her film after the screening as part of the Albright-Knox’s Gusto at the Gallery series.

Friday, November 17 at 7pm. Albright-Knox, 1285 Elmwood Ave. (882-8700) www.albrightknox.org. FREE