Following a successful season at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) in Sydney, the exhibition, Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, will be presented at the Lismore Regional Gallery from 15 September as part of a national tour.
Curated by MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop is the largest survey exhibition of Lindy Lee’s works to date. The result of a close collaboration between the artist and curator, the exhibition features key artworks from the 1980s to the present, including several new works created specifically for the exhibition tour.
Lindy Lee works across painting, sculpture, installation and public art. She draws on her Australian and Chinese heritage to develop works that engage with the history of art, cultural authenticity, personal identity and the cosmos. Key influences are the philosophies of Daoism and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism. Lindy Lee works from her studio based on Arakwal Country in Northern NSW.
“We are thrilled to tour Lindy Lee’s work across Australia and introduce new audiences to one of Australia’s most important and influential artists,” said Elizabeth Ann Macgregor. “Lindy has had a long association with the MCA, with the first works entering the collection in 1995, through to a major presence in the opening exhibition of the expanded MCA, in 2012.
“A survey bringing together all aspects of her work is timely. She is an artist who weaves together her personal experience of living between two cultures to create highly evocative works which are especially relevant in today’s Australia.”
“It has been a great honour to have such a comprehensive survey of my work at the MCA,” added Lindy Lee. “I am also excited to take the exhibition to some of Australia’s finest regional galleries and to share my work with new audiences.”
The artist has created a number of new artworks for the exhibition tour including Water + Water (2020), a large paper work created using natural elements of fire and water; and Untitled (2020), an installation comprising of small sculptures individually created by the artist by hand-pouring molten bronze.
Other highlights include Equanimity (No More Struggles in the Ocean of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’) (2017), a polished stainless-steel sculpture pierced with hundreds of tiny holes, illuminated from the centre the perforations are transformed into stars to create its own constellation.
The key photographic work The Seamless Tomb (Wearing An Iron Yoke That Has No Hole) (2017), which reflects on Lee’s family’s journey from China to Australia and Ten Worlds, Ten Directions (2002) brings together abstraction and figurative elements and continues the artist’s ongoing exploration of Buddhist philosophy. As well as a series of early photocopy works drawn from Western art history that address identity and authenticity.
A range of resources and behind-the-scenes content will accompany the touring exhibition including models of public art projects, learning resources and an artist documentary filmed at Lee’s studio on Arakwal Country (Northern Rivers, NSW) and at the UAP (Urban Artist Projects) workshop and foundry on Turrbal Country (Brisbane).
Audiences will be able to access a specially created audio guide on their smartphones, via the MCA Australia’s online museum guide, touring.mca.art. Visitors will be able to walk through the exhibition listening to the artist talk about key works and themes. Available in both English and Auslan-interpreted videos.
A beautifully designed publication also accompanies the exhibition. The catalogue contains an overview of Lee’s practice with contributing essays from Dr Zara Stanhope and Dr Shen Qilan, plus an in-depth interview between Elizabeth Ann Macgregor and the artist. The publication is available to purchase from Lismore Regional Gallery.
Lindy Lee is one of the most respected contemporary artists working in Australia today. With a practice spanning over four decades, Lee has exhibited widely in Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and USA, and is represented in numerous major public and private collections. In recent years, Lee’s practice has expanded into the public realm.
She has created a series of significant public artworks in Australia and internationally, including Secret World of a Starlight Ember, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; The Life of Stars, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; The Garden of Cloud and Stone, Chinatown Public Domain, Sydney; and The Life of Stars – The Tenderness of Rain, Province Midtown Cultural Centre, Zhengzhou, China. In 2018 the artist was awarded a prestigious international commission to create an iconic gateway work for New York’s Chinatown district.
Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop
Lismore Regional Gallery, 11 Rural Street, Lismore
Exhibition: 15 September – 24 October 2021
Information: www.lismoregallery.org
Free entry
Following its display at the Lismore Regional Gallery, Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop will be presented at Artspace Mackay (QLD): 5 November 2021– 16 January 2022; Devonport Regional Gallery (TAS): 11 February – 18 April 2022; and John Curtin Gallery (WA): 12 May – 24 July 2022.]
Image: Lindy Lee with Secret World of a Starlight Ember, 2020, installation view, Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2020, stainless steel. Image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, © the artist – photo by Ken Leanfore