Ricky Lee Gordon

Info

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.

Biography

CV


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

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