Lindy Lee Lily-amah, 2001; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire
Lindy Lee Lily-amah, 2001; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire

Cycles Through A Chinese Landscape is an exhibition of paintings which reflect Lee's interest in exploring notions of selfhood as a constantly changing aggregation of experiences which include both Eastern and Western influences. Each colour has, for Lee, a significance that is highly personal, informed particularly by her studies in Zen Buddhism.

Exhibition Dates: 26 April – 19 May 2001

Lindy Lee, a first generation Chinese Australian, is one of the most established artists of her generation. Her paintings have been a gradual yet steady process of illumination, both for the viewer and for the artist herself. Cycles Through A Chinese Landscape is an exhibition of paintings which reflect Lee's interest in exploring notions of selfhood as a constantly changing aggregation of experiences which include both Eastern and Western influences. Each colour has, for Lee, a significance that is highly personal, informed particularly by her studies in Zen Buddhism. This is what she has said about the colours she uses:

Black: underlying mystery: invisible, unseeing, unseen, and silent, utmost causation, causeless, ceaseless, indeterminate. Red: blood-red vitality, passion, fire, life, fortuity, actuality, carnal, corporeal, substance. Blue: deep, vast and introspective, the life of the spirit, translucent and silent, my utopia. Purple: the direct mix of blue and red; of spirit and matter, dark, murky and rich, uncertain, neither choice not chance, grit, endurance, reluctance, hesitation, perseverence. Orange: the black stone at the heart of the universe, pure transmission, gold, the luminosity in each and every thing when given proper attention. Green: jade-like colour of life, oceanic colour.

The ongoing concerns in Lee's work are the relationship between copies and originals in connection to notions of authenticity, selfhood and Zen Buddhism. Earlier work, using photocopies of Old Master reproductions, was a complex mix, exploring concepts of 'belonging' to a Western art tradition; loss and redemption and painting as a practice of silence and embodiment. These concerns have developed through Lee's experience of diaspora. Theories of diaspora attempt to explain differences between an original culture and the manifestation of that culture elsewhere. In Lee's current work, this tension manifests itself between constructed oppositions ranging from a tussle between abstraction and figuration, lightness and darkness embodied in colours, ideas of presence and absence, static and dynamic and, most importantly, the original versus the reproduction.

The development of a more expressive and active painting style in Lee's new work relates to her practice of Zen. Bold brushstrokes, drips and splashes in black paint and wax reflect a state of flux and movement. At times, this style resembles a calligraphic sensibility, although Lee's technique differs in a number of significant ways. Calligraphy is a heavily codified art form, with recognisable levels of progression towards the attainment of technical perfection. In contrast, Lee's brush marks are more spontaneous, like random studies in movement.

Lindy Lee has shown extensively both in Australia and overseas, including the 1985 Australian Perspecta, the 1986 Sydney Biennale, Prospect '93 (Germany), Transcultural Painting (toured throughout Asia) and Edge to Edge: Contemporary Australian Art to Japan. Her work is held in most of Australia's major institutions, including the Australian National Gallery, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia as well as numerous corporate collections.

Her work is most recently documented in an Art & Australia/Craftsman House monograph, Lindy Lee, by Benjamin Genocchio and Melissa Chiu, 2001.

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Lindy Lee The end is the Beginning, 2001; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire
The end is the Beginning, 2001
photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax and ink on board
166 x 147 cm
Lindy Lee 8 Negations, 2001; 20 panels, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire
8 Negations, 2001
20 panels, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
166 x 147 cm
Lindy Lee First Principle, 2001; 20 panels; acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire
First Principle, 2001
20 panels; acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
166 x 147 cm
Lindy Lee Uji (time-being), 2001; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire
Uji (time-being), 2001
photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
166 x 147 cm
Lindy Lee Nell-dharma, 2001; 20 panels, photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 166 x 147 cm; enquire
Nell-dharma, 2001
20 panels, photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
166 x 147 cm
Lindy Lee Traceless Enlightenment, 2001; 7 panels, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 41 x 206 cm; enquire
Traceless Enlightenment, 2001
7 panels, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
41 x 206 cm
Lindy Lee Painting that is Almost Possible, 2001; 6 panels; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 41 x 177 cm; enquire
Painting that is Almost Possible, 2001
6 panels; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
41 x 177 cm
Lindy Lee Nameless & Fameless, Leaving no Trace, 2001; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 207 x 41 cm; enquire
Nameless & Fameless, Leaving no Trace, 2001
photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
207 x 41 cm
Lindy Lee History, circular essence, 2001; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax and ink on board; 41 x 207 cm; enquire
History, circular essence, 2001
photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax and ink on board
41 x 207 cm
Lindy Lee Secret of the Golden Flower, 2001; 5 panels, photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 207 x 41 cm; enquire
Secret of the Golden Flower, 2001
5 panels, photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
207 x 41 cm
Lindy Lee Coincidence of Opposites, 2001; acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 207 x 41 cm; enquire
Coincidence of Opposites, 2001
acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
207 x 41 cm
Lindy Lee Red Kuan Yin, 2001; 5 panels; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 207 x 41 cm; enquire
Red Kuan Yin, 2001
5 panels; photocopy, acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
207 x 41 cm
Lindy Lee Shoji (Birth and Death), 2001; acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board; 88 x 41 cm; enquire
Shoji (Birth and Death), 2001
acrylic, oil, wax, and ink on board
88 x 41 cm