There’s a silver lining even in the poop storm of the last few months. While in some respects the world at large feels further away than ever, that allows for a little bit of love spent right here and now. After months of lying dusty, the MCA is back in a big way, and it's fully embracing the new normal, throwing focus on Australian artists. It’s in this spirit that we get absolutely spoiled with a cracking retrospective of Lindy Lee’s exhilarating career.
Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop celebrates the Australian-Chinese artist’s genius, nimbly dancing through four decades of jaw-dropping creativity crossing mediums and cultures. Curated by the MCA’s director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, the show pulls together 70 of Brisbane-born, Sydney-based Lee’s works sourced from public and private collections, including rarities from her personal records. It’s the most comprehensive overview of Lee’s artistic contribution that’s ever been assembled.
For Lee, embracing the heritage passed to her by her Chinese immigrant parents has always been central to her work, engaging with Taoism and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism, philosophies that see humanity and nature as inextricably linked, and pushing back against whitewashing of history, including art.
You can a lot of these influence sin her incredible work, often grappling with the idea of eternity as being the here and precisely now. A useful Buddhist outlook to apply to 2020. You can also get a squiz at her some of her earliest experimentations, playing around with photocopiers and with wax paintings. You’ll also be able to see immersive installations like ‘No Up, No Down, I Am the Ten Thousand Things’, and beautiful sculptural works like the sizeable shimmering bronze, liquid-like ‘Unnameable’. A new piece of public art created by Lee, the mesmerising ‘Secret World of a Starlight Ember’, now adorns the Circular Quay forecourt.
MCA director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor was very keen on a ‘Love Local’ perspective. “We seized the opportunity to celebrate the work of Australian artists. I’m delighted that the first exhibition the MCA has been able to generate since the lockdown is of the extraordinary Lindy Lee. One of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists, Lee’s work addresses important and timely issues regarding identity, cultural authenticity, as well as history and spirituality.”
You can tune into a ticketed livestream of Lee in conversation with Macgregor at the MCA on October 7 at 6pm. The exhibition runs through to February 28, 2021, and what better way to celebrate Sydney’s vibrant art scene reignited?
Want to see Lee's new sculpture? Check out Sydney's awesome public art.
