Eye of the beholder: Lindy Lee’s $14 million Ouroboros

Our cover story today: Lindy Lee’s controversial $14 million sculpture for the National Gallery of Australia.

All art is subjective but strident opinions emerge when it is funded by the public purse. Fair enough, we want to see value for money (remember Blue Poles – controversially purchased for $1.3m and now reportedly worth $350m). Lindy Lee’s commission to create a 13-tonne, 4m-high sculpture made of reflective recycled metal for the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra did not attract the same ire as did Blue Poles 49 years ago, but it did raise eyebrows.

At $14m it will be the NGA’s most expensive purchase, leading The Australian’s critic Christopher Allen to state: “It is too much to pay for her work, or anyone else’s, especially when considered against other priorities and the limited funds available.” The NGA says that when considered in its entirety, the price makes sense. And the artist herself? Journalist Matthew Condon visited Lindy Lee in her Byron Bay hinterland studio where she was unfazed by the fuss, urging the public to be patient. “Hopefully I pull the rabbit out of the hat and it’s magic.”