Christopher Allen’s verdict on Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros: an absurd price for a work of debatable value by an artist of modest standing

Lindy Lee's Ouroboros immersive, public sculpture at National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

The work of Lindy Lee has its merits, as I recognised in a positive review of her survey show at the MCA in November 2020; but it is also limited by the fact that she does not have a true sculptural practice.

She designs things and has them fabricated by others, like commercial or corporate sculpture.

The merit of the work then rests entirely on the merit of the design, which appears in this case to be formally rather simplistic.

I should say that I have not seen Ouroboros since its unveiling, but I was able to examine it when first installed and still covered in black plastic.

Lindy Lee's Ouroboros. Picture: Martin Ollman

Clearly much of its effect will come from the highly-reflective surface and lighting effects, but these cannot disguise the uninteresting shape that one sculptor friend has compared to a doughnut.

The idea of the work is also questionable: it is meant to evoke the ancient image of the cosmic serpent that swallows its tail, symbolising eternity, but – leaving aside the interest of the image – Ouroboros doesn’t in fact look like a serpent.

In fact the whole design is reminiscent of part of Nigel Helyer’s sculptural installation Dual Nature (1999) on the tidal line near Boy Charlton pool in Sydney’s Woolloomooloo Bay.

But perhaps above all it is the cost of this work that is disturbing. It was announced as $14 million.

Lindy Lee and Ouroboros, her public sculpture at National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

This is an absurd sum to pay for a work of debatable value by an artist of Lee’s modest standing.

It represents above all a shocking opportunity cost when we consider what a difference these funds could have made to the NGA’s core collections.

Along with another possibly more absurd multi-million dollar purchase, the ugly and disappointing robotic sculpture by Jordan Wolfson, it is an example of the incompetent management of our National Gallery and of the weak and ineffectual oversight of the Council. Both should be replaced if the decline of the NGA is to be reversed.