index » the artist Patrick Lee

During the day Patrick Lee is a business advisor at Gartner, a major provider of curtain walls and structures.  Among others, Gartner did the facade of the towering 101-story skyscraper in Taipei and the Mori Tower in Shanghai.  At night Lee owns and operators various eating and drinking establishments.  The rest of the time, he paints.

 

Although he started painting at age 10, he never studied art or took any art classes, therefore he is a self-taught painter. "When I was in the third grade at elementary school, my teacher ordered me to join the school¡¦s drawing competition -- we had to imitate a famous painting -- and I won!" Lee recalls. "I  then joined the contest every year." It was a rather simple start.

In the summer of 1989, while Lee was working for some Taiwan fisheries in North American seas, a ban on salmon fishing was imposed and all countries worldwide - except of course, Japan - had to comply with the ban. In a strange twist of fate, Lee was arrested in a US entrapment and ended-up in jail for over 5 years. "Far away from friends and family, I almost totally mentally collapsed, and had to redirect my energy on some activities," he now recalls. "I started playing tennis, doing pottery and painting again. That saved me."

Released  from  jail  in the US  for  good conduct after 61 months, Patrick   returned  to  Taiwan  and  got  back  into  business,  but the seeds of his painting had grown. His painting is now multimedia on  either  canvas or  wood  panels, mixing oil and acrylic paints, inks  and  powders.  His works, primarily lavis, have recently taken a  more  adventurous turn and combine Chinese arts and calligraphy to modern medias and contexts.

About inspiration, Lee says: "Chinese calligraphy is really very beautiful, but it is always one hundred percent Chinese and conservative. To me, Chinese arts are generally too academic, much too heavy and serious to be decorative on a wall. I try to give a fresh, brand new life to Chinese calligraphy and symbols."

Lee's works are bright and colorful panels with a lot of silver, gold, reds and blacks, a subtle marriage of strong colors resulting in a mellow blend. The texts often visible in the background are extracted from very famous and ancient museum calligraphies of Wang Xi-zhi recomposed in Lee's manner.

When asked about the next direction of his art, Lee said: "One can never predict what will happen with creativity and creation! Anything is possible."

Although Lee has painted for many years, he did hold any shows until 2002. The first show at Club75, and was followed by a show in Copenhagen (Denmark) and several solo exhibitions in Taiwan.  Asian and Western galleries have shown interest in his work, but Lee says he does not feel he has the time or ability to produce the 30 or 40 paintings a year needed for a major show.  His paintings are on display in his studio, and the LiLi gallery.

Many business business people and art amateurs in the USA, China, Taiwan, and Europe are now collecting Lee's artwork.