Earlier this year Rik Lee was diagnosed with chronic insomnia. He tried reading and late night television, but they failed. So he gave in and spent his nights listening to bad music and drawing pictures. The result is One Last Late Night, his first solo show at Lamington Drive Gallery. One Last Late Night is about love, hate, idealism, going out, staying in, good intentions, bad timing, debt, teen angst, pink Cadillac’s, fast food and all the other things you think about when you can’t sleep.
Rik’s favoured mediums are grey lead pencil, water colour, ink and textas. His delicately rendered illustrations of girls, boys, animals and iconic objects from popular culture are idealistic, romantic and emotive. The imagery is often accompanied by excerpts of hand-drawn text to create open-ended narratives.
Rik graduated from the Swinburne National School of Design with a Bachelor of Graphic Design (Honours) in 2003. He currently works as a freelance illustrator for a variety of clients that include fashion labels, style conscious magazines and boutique stores. In the future he would like to travel, own a ’67 Chevy Impala, collect more tattoos and get a dog.
Rik’s work has been exhibited at The Gallery of New South Wales, Gorker Gallery, Bus Gallery, West Space and Platform Artist Space. He is exhibiting alongside international artists such as Mike Giant and Angelique Houtkamp at Outre Gallery in October and has been invited to exhibit at Gallery1988 in San Francisco this December. One Last Late Night at Lamington Drive will be Rik’s first solo show.
See more of Rik Lee’s work over at The Jacky Winter Group
