“The stars: what are they? They are chunks of ice reflecting the sun; they are lights afloat on the waters beyond the transparent dome; they are nails nailed to the sky; they are holes in the great curtain between us and the sea of light; they are holes in the hard shell that protects us from the inferno beyond…” ¹

“…they are the daughters of the sun; they are the messengers of the gods; they are shaped like wheels and are condensations of air with flames roaring through the spaces between the spokes; they sit in little chairs; they are strewn across the sky…”

1. All quotes from Eliot Weinberger, ‘The Stars’, An Elemental Thing, New Directions, New York, 2007, pp. 171-176. This text was drawn upon by Zara Stanhope in her essay ‘Music in the Sky’, originally published in the exhibition catalogue Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop (Sydney: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2020)
   
   
   

Artist biography

Lindy Lee’s practice explores her ancestry through the philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism, characterised by an awareness of humanity’s close relationship to nature and the universe. Employing ideas of chance and spontaneity, she creates imagery that emanates philosophical reflections on nature and life. Rather than singular visual statements, Lee’s artworks are thoughtful objects that evoke the elements and where meaning emerges from sustained meditation. Conceptually concerned with the ancient universe, we are repeatedly offered ‘a grander vision of existence where the bonds of time are loosened and we are for a moment free’.

With a practice spanning more than four decades, Lee’s work has been exhibited widely throughout Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. Selected solo and group exhibitions include: Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2020; Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Divided Worlds, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2018; Infinite conversations: Asian-Australia Artistic Exchange, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2018; Lindy Lee: The Dark of Absolute Freedom, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, 2014; and Birth and Death, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, 2007.

Lee’s work is held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Queensland Art Gallery + Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; as well as regional and private collections throughout the world.

Lindy Lee in Conversation with Ron Bradfield Jr

In June 2022, Lindy Lee sat down for a yarn with Ron Bradfield Jr. to talk about her national touring exhibition Moon in a Dewdrop, currently on view at John Curtin Gallery, Perth, until 8 August 2022, her profound experience in the Shire of Roebourne, intergenerational trauma and the important influence of Zen Buddhism on her art practice.

→ Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, John Curtin Gallery, Perth
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