ABOUT/ PRESS/

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 oxidizing 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.

Read Full Interview with Xerxes Cook
Complete Press Page

Ricky Lee Gordon C.V.
b. 1984

Lives and works in Bali

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS


2024 - ‘We are the sea’ with Rodrigo Moran, Museo de Historia Natural Y Cultura Ambiental, Mexico City

2023 - Arte Vico Group Show, Museo de Arte Moderna, Mexico City

2016 - Entry Point: Exploring the New Contemporary Movement, Fullerton Museum Center, California

ART FAIRS

2024 - Art Jakarta, SUN.CONTEMPORARY

2024 - ZONAMONACO, MAIA Contemporary

2023 - ZONAMONACO, MAIA Contemporary

SOLO EXHIBITIONS


2024 - Falling Star / Rising Tide, SUN .CONTEMPORARY

2024 - The light between sea & sky, Circle Culture, Hamburg


2024 - A Midnight Cascade, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City


2023 - Lily Garden, Circle Culture, Hamburg


2022 - TIDES, Times Beach Warung, Bali


2021 - The Ocean our Teacher of a Romantic Realism, The Slow, Bali

2015 - The Abstract and Absolute, Dangerfork Gallery, Melbourne

2015 - The Nature of Our Presence, Worldart Gallery, Cape Town

GROUP EXHIBITIONS


2022 - Portals, group exhibition of past Śūnyatā artists-in-residence, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City

2022 - The Ocean Our Teacher of a Romantic Realism, The Slow, Bali


2017 - Noa Noa, Martina’s Gallery, Milan


2017 - LADTW, Inner State Gallery, Detroit


2016 - One Year Anniversary, Athen B Gallery, Oakland
 2013 - Urban Art, DO ART Foundation, Los Angeles

2012 - Ways of Seeing, A WORD OF ART Gallery, Cape Town

COMMISSIONS


2023 - The Ocean Our Teacher Our Healer, United Nations, Houston Texas

2018 - Horizon, Dubai Municipality, UAE


2018 - Waiting for Love in the Middle of the Sea/La Metamorphosis, Sapri, Italy


2018 - Sunrise. Sunset. We all share the same sun, Fund Sobranie Moscow, Satka, Russia

2017 - Beautiful Orchestra, Venice Family Clinic x Google, Los Angeles

2016 - Migration, Bonobo album artwork, Los Angeles 


2016 - Edward Snowden: Wright for Rights, Amnesty International, New Orleans


2016 - WAC Big Walls, Colombia College, Chicago 

2016 - Anywhere, Everywhere, DO ART Foundation, Los Angeles


2014 - Nelson Mandela, Maboneng Precinct and Mandela Foundation, Johannesburg

2014 - Google Doodle Freedom day, Google, Cape Town

2013 - Earth Hour, WWF, Cape Town & Johannesburg


2013 - Within the Wisdom of the Sands, 350.org Global Power Shift conference, Istanbul

2013 - Moving Mountains, The Philadelphia Mural Art Program, Philadelphia


2012 - Kings and Castles Floating on Acrylic Mountains, Open Walls Festival, Baltimore


2012 - Untitled, Langa Township Experience, Cape Town


2012 - Acrylic Walls, Cape Town & Johannesburg


2011 - Live Painting, DO Lab stage 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 , Fra.me.IT Festival, Frezzano, Sicily


2018 - Young Poseidon, Paxos Biennale, Greece


2018 - Landscapes in Ceremony, SODO Track Festival, Seattle


2018 - Monument, VukovART Festival, Vukovar, Croatia


2017 - A truth which is beauty. A beauty, which is truth, Amnesty international x NuArt Festival, Stavanger, Norway


2017 - Rest in stillness like sky, mountain lake, UPEA Festival, Helsinki, Finland


2017 - Throw a drop of water into the sea to prevent it from drying up, Crystal Ship Festival, Oostende, Belgium


2017 - Lyg jeros sro ves sus ieljame/ The river will lead you to the sea, EDIT Festival, Klaipeda, Lithuania

2017 - Die Sonne wird im Ozean versinken (The sun will sink into the ocean)


2017 - Der Mond und das Wasser werden steigen (The moon and tides will rise)


2017 - These kings and their castles will wash away), Urban Nation, Berlin


2016 - EVERY RIVER FLOWS TO THE SEA United Artists, Kiev  

2016 - The Memory of Water, Memorie Urbane Festival, Gaeta, Italy


2016 - Gentle Hearts, #NotACrime Street Art Campaign for Education Equality, Harlem, New York


2016 - OCEAN POET, Pow Wow Hawaii Festival, Honolulu


2015 - The Road to Solidarity/ Rua de Soladrite, Walk & Talk Festival, Azores, Portugal


2015 - 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


2013 - Untitled, Wall Therapy, Rochester, New York


2013 - I AM BECAUSE WE ARE, Living Walls Festival, Atlanta


2013 - Kurema, Kureba, Kwiga collaborative mural with local artists, Kigali, Rwanda

RESIDENCIES / AWARDS 


2021 - Founded Śūnyatā, Sri Lanka residency 


2018 - Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon

2017 - Noa Noa, Bali

2017 - RVCA Artist Network Program International Team Member (ongoing)

2017 - Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art Scholarship


2015 - La Zona Residency, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic


2015 - Everfresh Residency, Melbourne

2014 - Peace Revolution artist meditation retreat and residency, Bangkok

2011 - Happy Studios Residency, Portland

Śūnyatā Studios: Munggu Bali / Nilwella Sri Lanka