Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1984, Ricky Lee Gordon is an artist and curator with a studio practice that sees him create natural landscapes on canvas using pigments and dyes found only in nature, a deeply personal process he likens to meditation for the manner in which it illuminates the interconnectedness of all life. Working under the aegis of painting nature with nature, he explores a variety of mediums, seeking harmony through the alchemy of materials and form in processes that include oxidising plant dyes, rock pigments, batik printing with beeswax, cyanotypes, lithographs, copper and acid engravings.
In his public practice, Lee Gordon is known as one of “street art’s 11 greats” (National Geographic) for his large-scale artworks highlighting social and environmental issues for organisations such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the United Nations. Having moved to Cape Town in his twenties and founded A WORD OF ART Gallery, the Colour Ikamva school rejuvenation project and the Andpeople advertising agency, Lee Gordon went on to live in Los Angeles in 2015, where he studied anatomy, classical drawing and painting at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. With the ocean remaining an ever-present source of inspiration, Lee Gordon lived in Sri Lanka from 2016 to 2022, where he created the Śūnyatā artist residency. He is now based in Bali, Indonesia, where he founded SUN.CONTEMPORARY in 2024, a gallery and art advisory which nurtures and creates connections between the island’s creative community and the international art world.
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
2024
“We are the sea” Installation with Rodrigo Moran, The Museum of Natural History, Mexico City / Museo De Historia Natural Y Cultura Ambiental Mexico City
2023
Arte Vico group show, Museo De Arte Moderna, Mexico City
ART FAIRS
2024
ArtJakarta / SUN.CONTEMPORARY
ZONAMACO / Maia Contemporary
2023
ZONAMACO / Maia Contemporary
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
The Light Between Sea and Sky, Circle Culture Gallery, Hamburg
A Midnight Cascade, Maia Contemporary, Mexico City
2023
Lily Garden, Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin
Ways of Seeing / Waves of Being, Maia Contemporary x Art Baja x Hotel San Cristobal, Baja California
TIDES, Times Beach Warung, Bali
2022
The Ocean our Teacher of a Romantic Realism, The Slow, Bali
2015
The Abstract and Absolute, Dangerfork Gallery, Melbourne
The Nature of Our Presence, Worldart Gallery, Cape Town
2012
Ways of Seeing, A WORD OF ART Gallery, Cape Town
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
SUN.CONTEMPORARY. The Inaugural Group Show, Bali Good Vibration, The Curators x Galerie Gardette, Paris
2022
Portals, group exhibition of past Śūnyatā artists-in-residence, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City
2017
Noa Noa, Martina’s Gallery, Milan
2017
LADTW, Inner State Gallery, Detroit
2016
Entry Point: Exploring the New Contemporary Movement, Fullerton Museum Center, California
One Year Anniversary, Athen B Gallery, Oakland
2013
Urban Art, DO ART Foundation, Los Angeles
COMMISSIONS
2023
The Ocean Our Teacher Our Healer, United Nations, Houston Texas
2018
Horizon, Dubai Municipality, UAE
Waiting for Love in the Middle of the Sea/La Metamorphosis, Anto- nio Oriente, Sapri, Italy
Sunrise. Sunset. We all share the same sun, Fund Sobranie Moscow, Satka, Russia
2017
Beautiful Orchestra, Live painting for Venice Family Clinic fundraiser, Google, Los Angeles
2016
Migration, Bonobo album artwork
Edward Snowden: Three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth, Wright for Rights, Amnesty International, New Orleans
WAC Big Walls, Colombia College, Chicago
Anywhere, Everywhere, DO ART Foundation, Los Angeles
2014
A Tribute to Nelson Mandela, Maboneng Precinct and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Johannesburg
Google; Freedom Day Google Doodle, Cape Town
2013
Earth Hour, WWF, Cape Town & Johannesburg
Within the Wisdom of the Sands, 350.org Global Power Shift confer- ence, Istanbul
Moving Mountains, The Philadelphia Mural Art Program, Philadel- phia
2012
Kings and Castles Floating on Acrylic Mountains, Open Walls Festival, Baltimore
Untitled, Langa Township Experience, Cape Town Acrylic Walls, Cape Town & Johannesburg
2011
Untitled, Live Painting, Coachella music festival
MURALS
2019
A sacred gesture the beautiful dance, St+art Festival, Goa, India
2018
SORGE SULLA VALLE | UNA LUNA CHE INSEGNA UN PASSATO
INFINITO | UN FUTURO SENZA FINE, Fra.me.IT Festival, Frezzano, Sicily
Young Poseidon, Paxos Biennale, Greece
Landscapes in Ceremony, SODO Track Festival, Seattle Monument, VukovART Festival, Vukovar, Croatia
2017
A truth which is beauty. A beauty, which is truth, Amnesty internation- al x NuArt Festival, Stavanger, Norway
Rest in stillness like sky, mountain lake, UPEA Festival, Helsinki, Finland
Throw a drop of water into the sea to prevent it from drying up, Crys- tal Ship Festival, Oostende, Belgium
Lyg jeros sro ves sus ieljame/ The river will lead you to the sea, EDIT Festival, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Die Sonne wird im Ozean versinken (The sun will sink into the ocean) Der Mond und das Wasser werden steigen (The moon and tides will rise)
Diese Könige in ihren Schlössern werden weggewaschen. (These kings and their castles will wash away), Urban Nation, Berlin
2016
EVERY RIVER FLOWS TO THE SEA / КОЖНА РІКА ВПАДАЄ В МОРЕ
THE WAVES OF THE SEA WILL SOFTEN THE STONE / І ХВИЛІ МОРЯ
ТОЧАТЬ КАМІНЬ, United Artists, Kiev
The Memory of Water, Memorie Urbane Festival, Gaeta, Italy Gentle Hearts, #NotACrime Street Art Campaign for Education Equality, Harlem, New York
OCEAN POET, Pow Wow Hawaii Festival, Honolulu
2015
The Road to Solidarity/ Rua de Soladrite, Walk & Talk Festival, Azores, Portugal
Untitled, Matharan Green Festival, Mumbai
2014
A faded memory of an island, Festival D’art Urbain, Antananarivo, Madagascar
2013
Untitled school rejuvenation mural, Muralist Festival, Kathmandu Untitled, Wall Therapy, Rochester, New York
I AM BECAUSE WE ARE, Living Walls Festival, Atlanta
Kurema, Kureba, Kwiga collaborative mural with local artists, Kigali, Rwanda
RESIDENCIES / AWARDS
2018
Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon
2017
Noa Noa, Bali
2019
Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art Scholarship
2016
National Geographics 11 street art greats
2015
La Zona Residency, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Everfresh Residency, Melbourne
2014
Peace Revolution artist meditation retreat and residency, Bangkok
2011
Happy Studios Residency, Portland
2010 – 2022
RVCA Artist Network Program International Team Member
2010
Mail & Guardians 200 young Sourth Africans