Lindy Lee (born 1954) is an Australian
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
and
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
of Chinese heritage, whose work blends the cultures of Australia and her ancestral China and explores her
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
faith. She has exhibited widely, and is particularly known for her large works of
public art
Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
, such as several iterations of ''The Life of Stars'' at various locations in China and on the forecourt of the
Art Gallery of South Australia
The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
, and ''The Garden of Cloud and Stone'' in
Sydney's Chinatown district.
Early life and education
Lee was born in 1954 in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
, Queensland,
the daughter of
Chinese immigrants
Overseas Chinese people are people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 million people livin ...
who left
Guangdong
) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
province
[ in China with their two older children after the rise of communism in that country.] Her father arrived first, in 1949, and her mother and siblings, came afterwards, in 1953. Lee's experiences with racism as a child in Australia coupled with her experience of feeling alienated when visiting China because of her inability to speak in the Chinese language contributed to her interest in melding the cultures in her work.[
She first qualified as a secondary school teacher at ]Kelvin Grove Teachers College
Kelvin Grove Teachers' College was established in 1961 to provide courses in primary and secondary teacher education from its predecessor the Queensland Teachers' Training College.
History
The Brisbane School of Arts was formed in 1849 and it wa ...
in 1975. After encountering art galleries on a trip to Europe, she decided to pursue a career in art.[ Includes ''Lindy Lee'' by Anne O'Hehir, excerpted from ''Know My Name'' (2020).] She attended the Chelsea School of Art
Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England.
It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, produ ...
in London,[ after which she considered a career as an art teacher, but exposure to ]portraiture
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
and contemporary art in London and elsewhere in Europe decided her to become a professional artist. During her years at graduate school at the Sydney College of the Arts
The Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) is a contemporary art school that was a faculty of the University of Sydney from 1990 until 2017, when it became a school of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Until the end of 2019, the campus was locat ...
in Australia she made her first portrait utilising photocopier
A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...
s, a technique which featured prominently in her early work.[
After decades as a practising artist, Lee attended the ]University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949.
The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...
, from which she achieved her PhD in Fine Art in 2001.[
]
Themes and practice
Initially denying her Chinese heritage and identity, she decided to embrace it and explore it in her art, initially using photos from the family album Family album may refer to:
* A photo album containing family photographs
Literature
* ''Family Album'' (novel), a 1985 novel by Danielle Steel
* ''Family Album'' (play) a 1935 short play by Noël Coward
Music
* ''Family Album'' (David Allan C ...
and creating two-dimensional artworks.[ Her later work blends the cultures of Australia and her ancestral China and explores her ]Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
faith.
Lee's work began in 1983 with a strong interest in originality and reproductions, utilising photocopiers to reproduce famous portraits over which she painted original work with acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Dep ...
after distorting the images. The resulting artworks raised questions about "originality and authenticity".[ Eventually, she began adding portraits of family and others before moving into other art forms, including sculpture.] In 2008, during a residency in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
, she began experimenting with first pierced paper, and then, with soldering iron
A soldering iron is a hand tool used in soldering. It supplies heat to melt solder so that it can flow into the joint between two workpieces.
A soldering iron is composed of a heated metal tip (the ''bit'') and an insulated handle. Heating is o ...
s and blow torch
A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning tool used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually in metalworking, but occasionally for foods like crème brûlée.
Description
Early blowtorches u ...
es in a studio in Beijing, started burning holes in other materials, developing her distinctive "fire drawings".[
As she became more involved in ]Zen Buddhism
Zen (; from Chinese: '' Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka ph ...
, she began to incorporate elements of religion in her work, which often focuses heavily on the theme of suffering. She also reflects Taoist
Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...
themes, including the interconnectedness of the universe and of nature and humanity.
Works
Lee's most prominent public works include several iterations of ''The Life of Stars'' at various locations in China and in Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
, South Australia, and ''The Garden of Cloud and Stone'' in Sydney's Chinatown district.
''The Life of Stars''
In 2014, Lee was commissioned by Ting Hsin International Group in Shanghai to create a public art work, at which time she first started working with Urban Art Projects
Urban Art Projects (UAP) is an Australian company that works with artists, architects, designers, developers, curators, institutions and art commissioners to realize public art and architectural design elements.
History
The company was founded ...
(UAP) in Brisbane, using bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
. After experimenting with a technique inspired by Buddhist spiritual practice which focused on oneness with nature, UAP collaborated with her to create the mirror polished stainless steel
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
, egg-shaped sculpture, ''The Life of Stars'' for the commission. The numerous piercings in the steel were arranged in overlapping concentric circles
In geometry, two or more objects are said to be ''concentric'' when they share the same center. Any pair of (possibly unalike) objects with well-defined centers can be concentric, including circles, spheres, regular polygons, regular polyhe ...
, representing "earth, life, birth and renewal" that is found in Tao and Buddhist principles,[ referring symbolically to the connectedness of the universe via a concept used in ]Mahayana Buddhism
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the others being Thera ...
.
Several more versions of ''The Life of Stars'' now exist: in Shanghai; at the Province Midtown Cultural Centre[ in ]Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...
(''Life of Stars: Tenderness of Rain'');[ and ]Xi'an
Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
, in China; as well as at the entrance to the Art Gallery of South Australia
The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
(AGSA) in Adelaide.[ The latter sculpture was mounted on the AGSA forecourt after being presented for the 2018 ]Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
: ''Divided Worlds'',[ its polished stainless steel surface reflecting its surroundings while simultaneously radiating light. Over 30,000 holes were individually placed by Lee] to resemble a map of our galaxy when lit from within. The sculpture was bought for AU$550,000 by the gallery to honour the departing director Nick Mitzevich in April 2018.
''Ouroboros''
In September 2021 the National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
(NGA) under director Nick Mitzevich commissioned an immersive high sculpture based on the ouroboros
The ouroboros or uroboros (; ) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent symbolism, snake or European dragon, dragon Autocannibalism, eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via Egyptian mythology, ancient Egyptian iconogra ...
(an ancient symbol depicting a snake eating its own tail), to be placed near its main entrance of the gallery. Unveiled in October 2024, at 14 million dollars the sculpture is the NGA's most expensive commission to date.
Two art critics criticised the purchase in 2021: John McDonald of ''The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' thought that the money could have been better spent filling some significant gaps in its collection, while Christopher Allen concurred, and thought that it merely "offer a passive experience to audiences who are unwilling or unable to engage more actively with works of art".
Many later reviews of the sculpture did not emphasise the cost but reviewed it positively as "one of Australia’s first sustainable works of public art" and "local First Nations knowledge has been respected and incorporated into ''Ouroboros''‘ installation on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country". Other reviewers called it a "dazzling new public sculpture" and said "In Ouroboros, we have gained an enduring and accessible addition to a shared public space, a monument to the values of creativity and collaboration that deserve to be championed" and "There’s something satisfying, on a primal level, about its spiralling, curvilinear form, which evokes the work’s mythic namesake: the snake that eats itself. Instead of scales, the surface is patterned with thousands of circular holes, which disrupt the reflections of water, landscape and sky on the steel."
Other roles
Lee was a founding member of Gallery 4A (now the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art) in Sydney in 1996.[
She was a senior lecturer at the ]Sydney College of the Arts
The Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) is a contemporary art school that was a faculty of the University of Sydney from 1990 until 2017, when it became a school of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Until the end of 2019, the campus was locat ...
(a faculty of the University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
) for more than two decades,[ and has been a trustee at the ]Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...
.
She has served on the boards of Artspace Visual Arts Centre
Artspace, officially Artspace Visual Arts Centre, is an independent, not-for-profit, and non-collecting residency-based contemporary art centre. Artspace is housed in the historic The Gunnery, Woolloomooloo, Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo, ...
and the Australian Centre for Photography
The Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) was a not-for-profit photography gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia that was established in 1973 and which also provided part-time courses and community programs.
One of the longest running c ...
, and was president of the Asian Australian Artists Association
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, formerly known as Gallery 4A, 4A Galleries, Asia-Australia Arts Centre and also known simply as 4A, is an Australian independent not-for-profit organisation based in the Haymarket, Sydney, Haymarket area of ...
as well as deputy chair of the Visual Arts and Crafts Fund
Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia.
The council was announc ...
of the Australia Council
Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia.
The council was announ ...
[ (renamed Creative Australia).
In February 2025 Lee resigned from the board of Creative Australia over its decision (passed unanimously by the board) to rescind the selection of Lebanese Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino for the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026, a week after announcing the commission. Lee published a statement online in which she wrote: "Nobody except those involved can ever know how fraught and heartbreaking that meeting was. I could not live with the level of violation I felt against one of my core values — that the artist's voice must never be silenced".
]
Recognition
Considered one of the foremost contemporary artists in the country, Lee has been commissioned to create several pieces of public art
Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
, such as ''Cloud Gate'' in Sydney's Chinatown district around 2013, consisting of cloud shapes made of brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
inlaid into the footpath. Valued at approximately , the artwork was mistakenly covered during construction of the Sydney Light Rail network in 2018, but was scheduled to be repaired.
Lee is also widely known internationally, having exhibited in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.[
In 2018][ Lee, in collaboration with art fabricators ]Urban Art Projects
Urban Art Projects (UAP) is an Australian company that works with artists, architects, designers, developers, curators, institutions and art commissioners to realize public art and architectural design elements.
History
The company was founded ...
(UAP), won an international competition run by the New York State Department of Transportation
The New York State Department of Transportation'' (NYSDOT) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit sys ...
to build a public artwork in the heart of New York's Chinatown, beating around 80 other entries. Her design, initially called "Drum Tower", is a cylindrical steel tower approximately high, based on the drum towers (guzou) found in villages and cities in China, marking the symbolic centre. They were used to mark nightfall and to summon the people for civic ceremonies and significant occasions, such as Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
.[ Following some objections to the design, later named ''The Dragon's Roar'', the future of the sculpture was to be decided after community consultation in September 2019.]
Tony Costa
Antone Charles "Tony" Costa (August 2, 1944 – May 12, 1974), sometimes referred to as the Cape Cod Vampire or the Cape Cod Cannibal was an American serial killers, American serial killer who was active in and around the town of Truro, Mas ...
's oil painting of Lee won the Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...
for portraiture in 2019. He said that he had been "attracted to her wisdom, humility, courage, humour and, above all, her deep focus regarding her art practice".
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), formerly the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, is located on George Street, Sydney, George Street in The Rocks, Sydney, The Rocks neighbourhood of Sydney. The museum is housed in the Stripped Cl ...
(MCA), commented in 2021:Lee was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
in the 2024 Australia Day Honours
The 2024 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2024 by the Governor General of Australia, David Hurley.
The Australi ...
for "distinguished service to contemporary visual arts as a sculptor and painter, and to arts administration through leadership roles".
Exhibitions
Lee started exhibiting her work in the 1980s. She has exhibited widely, with shows outside Australia in the United States, Germany, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.
In 1991, Lee was included in ''Frames of Reference: Aspects of Feminism and Art'' at Artspace''.'' Her work, along with that of two other Asian Australian
Asian Australians are Australians of Asian ancestry, including Naturalization, naturalised Australians who are Immigration to Australia, immigrants from various regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants. At the 2021 Australian census, 2 ...
artists, was featured in the inaugural exhibition of Gallery 4A (now the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art) in 1997.
In 2014, the University of Queensland Art Museum
The University of Queensland Art Museum is the art museum and public gallery of the University of Queensland in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre at the St Lucia, Queensland, St Lucia campus. The University of Queensland Art Collection is no ...
mounted a survey of her work to date.
From 2 October 2020 until 28 February 2021, ''Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop'', the largest ever solo exhibition of Lee's work, was mounted at the MCA in Sydney, curated by Elizabeth Ann Macgregor. The exhibition features more than 70 artworks, including a number of new works specially commissioned for the MCA.[ The exhibition then went on tour, starting with a stint at the Western Plains Cultural Centre in ]Dubbo
Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021.
The city is located at the intersection of the ...
, New South Wales, from 22 May to 1 August 2021, to be followed by the Lismore Regional Gallery in Lismore (NSW); Artspace Mackay (Queensland); Devonport Regional Gallery (Tasmania); and the John Curtin Gallery (Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, WA), finishing on 24 July 2022.
Personal life
Lee was married to photographer Robert Scott-Mitchell (1954-2021), whose portrait of her won the National Photographic Portrait Prize
The National Photographic Portrait Prize is an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia.
The major sponsor of the prize in 2022 is the gallery itself, which awards to the winner, while Canon pr ...
in 2007. They lived in the Northern Rivers
Northern Rivers is the most northeasterly Regions of New South Wales, region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence Ri ...
region of New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
from 2014 until his death from cancer in June 2021.
Lee has long been a practising Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, which infuses both her life and her work.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Lindy
1954 births
Living people
Officers of the Order of Australia
Artists from Brisbane
21st-century Australian artists
Australian people of Chinese descent
Australian women artists
Alumni of the University of the Arts London
University of Sydney alumni
University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts alumni
20th-century Australian artists