Lindy Lee

Biography

Lindy Lee (born 1954, Brisbane) is one of Australia’s most influential and respected contemporary artists and cultural role models. She has made a significant contribution to the development of contemporary art in Australia through ongoing leadership in the cultural sector as an academic, board member, cultural advocate, educator, founder and mentor. In 2001 she received her PhD in Fine Art from the University of New South Wales and was a senior lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney for over 30 years, nurturing the development of numerous Australian artists during this time.

Since the early 1980s, Lee has explored ideas around connection, history, family, time and personal identity through works that draw on her experiences as a second-generation Chinese Australian as well as a practicing Zen Buddhist. With a multi-disciplinary practice that incorporates installation, sculpture, drawing, painting, printmaking and public art, Lee has received widespread recognition both nationally and internationally. She has participated in over 150 exhibitions and biennales, and has been collected in numerous major public and private collections worldwide. In 2020-2021, the artist was the subject of a major survey exhibition, Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Receiving wide-spread popular and critical acclaim, the solo exhibition was one of the most visited exhibitions in the Museum’s history. In recent years, Lee has created a series of important and much-loved public artworks and large-scale sculptural commissions in Australia and overseas. The most significant to date will be the National Gallery of Australia’s immersive sculpture garden commission entitled Ouroboros, due to open in 2024. Significant awards include 2022 Innovation & Excellence Awards for Public Art Project, 2021 Sydney University Alumni Award for Cultural Contribution, 2020 AILA National Award of Excellence for Civic Landscape, 2018 The Melbourne Art Foundation Visual Arts Award and the 2012 – 14 The Australian Council Visual Arts Fellowship.

Photo Credit: Ken Leanfore