Philippine Daily Inquirer
by Constantino C. Tejero
THE WORKS of Lindsey James Lee, who signs his pieces simply “Lindslee,” may look at first like any splattering of paint, indistinguishable from the energetic bloodletting of numerous abstractionists-in the sense that a Joya, an Olazo, a Luz, or an Ocampo can be easily distinguished.
In fact, this artist is one of the more accomplished abstractionists of his generation. Only 25, already he imparts his works with a certain polish and sophistication that makes them easily picked out from the dump.
One only has to see the 16 paintings in mixed media in his exhibit “SR,” which runs on July 16-28 in The Big & Small Art Co. at the Artwalk, 4/L, Bldg. A, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.
The abbreviation SR, says the info sheet, is a mysterious indicator. It could mean “social reality” or just anything. “The trick is to see the artworks and relate them to a network of mysterious visual clues… They relate to how one lives in the city, with its noise, its apathy, its alienation.”
If here SR does apply to the art movement Social Realism, it can only be ironic, instantly creating tension from the paradox of what the term conjures and the abstraction the viewer sees.
Lindslee’s works can be appreciated on the appeal of their texture, color and composition, though, without the burden of an interpretation.
In pieces such as “Double Vision” and “Break Through,” with their texture like a splattering of slaked lime and concrete, he proves he could approach the leading practitioners of that technique such as Roberto Robles and Cid Reyes. His texturing is relatively more tempered, though, confined to certain parts of the canvas.
“Blind Awareness” and “Image Attraction” are paradoxes of subtlety and brusqueness. The first, in white, beige and blue, blends formlessness and cubist shapes. The second, though rendered in a near-monochrome of umber, ochre and gray, fairly glows with jewel colors.
The brushstrokes in these two particular paintings, though cruder and denser, give the effect of luminosity and transparence as can be seen in the “Diaphanous” series of Romulo Olazo.
The term SR applied on these pieces then could be a bluff, something irrelevant to their intrinsic beauty, unless you associate their brown-and-gray look with images of broken concrete walls, rusty GI sheets, dumpsites, industrial effluents, bloodstain, feces.
Indeed, the bold brushstrokes and dull monochrome could evoke urban blight and environmental decay. But it’s a hit-and-miss proposition, as definitions appended to abstract works usually are.
A graduate of Fine Arts, major in Painting, from the University of Santo Tomas, Lindslee further trained in Mixed Media, Drawing, Painting, Color and Composition at the Art Students League of New York.
“I believe I was born to paint,” he says. “It is the inevitable fate of my existence.”
Five more years and if he continues working this way, he could become a major artist of his generation.