Jason Lee is good with his hands. Perhaps not as good as he is with his mouth -- the actor is best known for his glib repartee acting in Kevin Smith films like "Mallrats" and "Chasing Amy". And he may be faster on his feet: Lee was a champion skateboarder as an Orange County teenager. Still, drilling bolts into the brick wall of his new downtown L.A. loft/art gallery, he is clearly a man at home with this power tools.

"I just spent the day before yesterday finishing the tracks," Lee says, nodding up at the lighting that runs along the 20-foot-high ceiling. Lee does all the hammering and drilling himself, swearing like a construction worker when a bolt doesn't sink. "After four days of dealing with drill guns," Lee says, "it was pretty brutal".

The loft is ground zero for the actor's latest venture, the Jason Lee Collection. Lee's hands-on approach has yielded quick results. His collection is only a few months old, but it is already generatin buzz from the art community and beyond.

The art in the loft is primarily representational and often haunting, veering towards an eerie hyperphotorealism. A large painting by Gottfried Helnwein shows a group of men -- perhaps doctors or veterans of war -- surrounding the body of a young girl on an examination table. They gaze directly at the viewer, as if posing . It could be an antique photograph -- the men are from another time -- but for the disfigured faces of the physicians. "I don't think they know how they look," says Lee.

Helnwein's art was featured at the foundation's first event earlier this year, a gallery showing that attracted celebrities, art lovers, as well as a fair share of would-be hybrids like Leonardo DiCaprio, Beck, and Marilyn Manson, Mena Suvari and Sean Penn. Given Helnwein's disturbing work, it's not surprising Manson wants to work with the artist.

A commitment to serious, even mysterious, art is surprising for those who think of Jason Lee only in terms of the characters he plays. His breakthrough role was as Brodie in "Mallrats", a Kevin Smith indie/teen/cult favorite. He went on to win an Independant Spirit Award as best supporting actor opposite Ben Affleck in Smith's "Chasing Amy". Lee relates the confidence he displayed from the start of his acting career. "I already went through my cocky 'I'm-a-really-good-scateboarder' phase when I was 14. I had an advantage: because I wasn't desperately trying to become an actor, or to become famous. I was genuinely interested in acting, the way you would be about how an airplane works. I was just so fascinated with the world of making movies."

Lee has a Parker Posey-like knack for finding roles in top independent films, but he's also moving confidently into mainstream fare: He played the lead singer in "Almost Famous", plays the lead in the upcoming romantic comedy "A Guy Thing" with Selma Blair and Julia Stiles, and is in "Dreamcatcher", a big budget/big name film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a Stephen King book. But he's not leaving the ensemble that Kevin Smith developed. Next year Lee will reprise the Chevy Chase role as Fletch in Smith's "Fletch Won".

Lee prefers working with writer/directors " 'cause they know their shit. Kevin Smith -- he'll direct you, it's so nonchalant it's almost like he's falling asleep. He knows it like the back of his hand, his character and his dialogue and the pace," He also admired Lawrence Kasdan, and would love to work with the Coen brothers and Steven Spielberg. "Hearing the words, 'you rock in Almost Famous, man,' from Steven Spielberg's mouth was a trip."

Ghoulish art and indie movies aside, Lee isn't an all-alternative-all-the-time kind of guy. "Trying too hard to be anti-mainstream puts wrinkles on your forehead," he says, "It's like trying to be punk rock. You're punk rock or you're not."

Lee has equally ambitious goals for his art collection. "I'd love to raise enough money to buy a 30,000-square-foot building, section off workspaces, and allow artists to use the facilities, like a YMCA. And everyone does a group showing in the building gallery. That would be amazing." If Lee's plans have an endearing "hey, kids, let's put on a show" quality, his commitment to the artists is clear. Lee is no dilletante, the artists are in Lee's good hands.