Drawings in Len Lye Studio, c. 1970s, Len Lye Foundation Collection.
Exhibition
6 Apr — 8 Oct 2023
Charting the zig-zags
Len Lye
Len Lye
Free Radicals, 1958 (revised 1979). Film still. Courtesy of the Len Lye Foundation. From material preserved and made available by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Digital version by Park Road Post Production and Weta Digital.
Len Lye
Untitled drawing, c.1930s, Len Lye Foundation Collection.
Len Lye
Untitled drawing, c.1930s, Len Lye Foundation Collection.
Drawings in Len Lye Studio, c. 1970s, Len Lye Foundation Collection.
Charting the zig-zags considers the act of drawing in Len Lye’s creative process, particularly the process of 'doodling’ - spontaneous and intuitive sketching - that underpins his multimedia practice.
Drawing was a central component of Len Lye’s creative process, particularly the process of ‘doodling’. Doodling is a spontaneous and intuitive way of creating without consciousness, taking shape in many forms in free patterns, symbols and random scrawls.
Lye’s embrace of automatism or involuntary action placed him in the company of Surrealist artists of the twentieth century where techniques of creating without a conscious intention challenged the aesthetics of the time. The idea of tapping into the unconscious mind warmed up the imagination by bringing what Lye called the “old brain” to the artistic fore.
Charting the zig-zags traces how a simple sketch transformed into some of Lye’s more well-known works, such as Free Radicals, and God of Light that feature alongside numerous never-seen before examples of Lye’s experimental drawings, exploratory sketches and creative writing.
Curated by Megan Denz.
