Rhys Lee, Riders, 15 July-16 August 2016
RHYS LEE
RIDERS
JUL15–AUG12 2016
![July 2016 exhibition [low res]-5.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/533b791ae4b0fcdc78c5af4a/1469922987987-NX1IYVZPXUTUILD4E002/July+2016+exhibition+%5Blow+res%5D-5.jpg)
![July 2016 exhibition [low res]-70.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/533b791ae4b0fcdc78c5af4a/1469922977753-JG94MCLMRGY9KZCQG78A/July+2016+exhibition+%5Blow+res%5D-70.jpg)
Rhys Lee paints to excite. With instinct acting as his muse, he manipulates elements of form and colour to create otherworldly scenarios. Immediately striking is his use of electric colours that animate the picture plane and jostle for pre-eminence. Colour renders the forms that populate his canvases, seductively luminescent. The vaguely grotesque figures and mysterious atmospheric landscapes insinuate a different kind of existence. On the edge of abstraction, figures and forms shift and transmogrify like psychedelic shadows buffeted by subliminal currents – Lee’s rich painterly surfaces seem to float upon a darker content.
Strong composition focuses the viewer’s attention onto the psychological content of the work, insinuated through recurring shapes that suggest a fetishistic obsession with the human condition.
Through his use of expansive scale, Lee extends an invitation to be absorbed by the ephemeral magic of his work and to accompany him to unexpected places.
Melbourne-based, Lee graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Graphic Design from Brisbane’s Queensland College of Art in 1997. He holds regular solo exhibitions in eastern Australian centres and has exhibited in New York. His work is held in collections in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, including the BHP Billiton Collection and the National Gallery of Australia.
He regularly exhibits with Nicholas Thompson Gallery in Melbourne and Jan Murphy Gallery in Queensland, Australia. This is the artists first time exhibiting with Gisborne Gallery PAULNACHE.