Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros: NGA unveils its most controversial purchase since Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles in 1973
The National Gallery of Australia’s most expensive commission – a $14m sculpture by Lindy Lee of a self-eating serpent – has been unveiled in the forecourt of the Canberra institution.
Art may be the final frontier of the imagination but for the throng in attendance on Thursday at the National Gallery of Australia, there was an elephant in the room – or, more precisely, a 13-tonne, $14m snake in the forecourt.
And while the size of artist Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros may be relative, there was no dodging the colossal fiscal footprint of this sinuous 4m-high flash of metal: the price tag makes the work the most expensive purchase in the Canberra institution’s 42-year history.
Commissioned by NGA director Nick Mitzevich to celebrate the gallery’s 40th anniversary in 2022, the immersive sculpture made primarily of recycled stainless steel has faced fierce criticism.
On the commission’s announcement in 2021, The Australian’s art critic, Christopher Allen, said the decision was “another example of poor leadership in our most important art galleries” and argued that the funds could have been better spent improving the national collection.
With the gleaming work in situ, Dr Mitzevech said Ouroboros spoke for itself. “When you announce a commission, the only thing that is real is the price it’s going to cost. But now the work is real,” he said. “Nothing of this complexity has ever been made in Australia. It is both complicated and sublimely beautiful.”
Ouroboros arguably is the most controversial commission since Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles, purchased in 1973 for $1.3m and now reportedly worth $500m. Adjusted for inflation, $1.3m today would be $14.7m.
Brisbane-born Lee could not wipe the smile from her face yesterday as the work – designed to signify eternity – was officially opened by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who revealed she had more than one of the artist’s pieces in her collection. Dignitaries included federal Arts Minister Tony Burke, Senate president Sue Lines, and Ngunnawal elder Aunty Jude Barlow, with whom Lee collaborated on “First Nations knowledge” for the piece.
Best known in Australia for her ornate gallery works – lace metal carvings and photographic abstractions – Lee holds superstar status in Asia, where her large-scale spherical sculptures command major public squares from Shanghai to Hong Kong.
“It was time Lindy had the opportunity to create (a major work) on home soil,” Dr Mitzevich said.
Taking four years and more than 200 pairs of hands to realise from a Brisbane foundry, the mirrored stainless steel of the Ouroboros, designed to endure for thousands of years, is perforated with 46,000 holes – creating a cosmos of dappled light in which visitors can immerse themselves. By darkness the belly of the serpent is illuminated, creating the illusion of a galaxy of stars.
Mr Burke praised the sculpture, which he described as Lee’s “gift to the nation”. “Some people in life have imagination and a sense of beauty that will outlive them,” he said. “Lindy, Australia says thank you.”
The motif of the Ouroboros dates to Egyptian antiquity: the snake imbibing its tail remains a universal symbol of perpetual renewal. For 70-year-old Lee, the philosophical premise is analogous with her own Taoist and Zen Buddhist beliefs: the regenerative cycle of all things within a connected universe.
“It’s really simple and it’s also really complicated,” Lee said. “It doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are, we all feel that. That intimacy and connection with that is greater. Everything regenerates.”
The sculpture is complemented by an exhibition, Lindy Lee, featuring new installations and works on paper.
