WITH SEVEN solo shows to his name and a distinctly intense style that sets his art apart from the commonplace and predictable, 27-year-old painter Lindslee is slowly making a name for himself in both the local and international abstract art scene.
Lindsey James Alvarez Lee or Lindslee’s passion for the arts was evident at an early age. “I always enjoyed making things more beautiful,” Lindslee said in an interview with the Varsitarian. His artistic prowess proved true throughout his high school years when he won on-the-spot painting competitions sponsored by his school in his native hometown, Bacolod. His love for the arts and indisputable talent led him to UST, a premier school for the arts.
Although somewhat discouraged after several unsuccessful tries in contests while in UST, Lindslee never gave up. Painting was what he wanted to do.
The New Yorker
After graduating in 2000, Lindslee decided to further hone his craft. He moved to New York City at 21 and there trained in mixed media, color, and composition at the Arts Students League, a school that has produced some of America’s venerable artists like Winslow Homer, Georgia O’Keefe and Louise Nevelson. After a year, Lindslee opened his first solo exhibit in the Harrison Public Library after winning a local art competition.
When Lindslee came back to the Philippines, he was determined to show a new side of art. His goal was art as Filipinos have never seen. His second solo show, “Perception”, at the Avellana Gallery in Pasay, was a success. The awards and recognition he would receive over the next years are a testament to his originality, passion and sheer talent as an artist.
Because of his accomplishments and New York training, Lindslee gained popularity, producing several other solo shows and participating in numerous group exhibits both here and abroad. He has also won numerous awards and honorable mentions, one in a competition sponsored by the Arts Association of the Philippines for his work “The Man Who Sold the World”.
The abstractionist
Lindslee calls his art “modern abstract”—deeply personal, emotional and rooted in nature. He doesn’t put restrictions on his art, continuously finding more innovative ways to express himself. He draws inspiration from his emotions and surroundings, and paints what he feels, often using unconventional materials such as screens, acid-free paper, wax, and even cement. His work sometimes evokes a sense of confusion from his audience because it is non-figurative, but he recognizes that Filipino audiences still need time to understand and accept his unique style. He cites fellow abstract artists and Arts Students League alumni like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko as his influences.
“I am in this genre to illustrate in my own way what it is like to live in my own time, and how I see the world apart from the common perspective,” he said.
But the abstractionist leaves plenty of room for an ordinary life. Lindslee is a self-confessed nature lover. When he’s not painting, he enjoys taking care of his pets.
A man who lives for the present, Lindslee doesn’t like to think much of the future. “It’s hard to plan for the future because you never know what’s going to happen next,” he said.
Lindslee is currently on a break from painting and the hectic lifestyle he has led for the past few years, but he plans to create an exhibit of “enormous proportions” in the near future. He said he’ll continue to paint so long as he is capable.
According to Lindslee, he prints pages of his experience, chapters of his journey, and the book of his life, which rightfully belongs to life’s eternal chronometry, through his artworks.
“I believe I was born to paint. It is the inevitable fate of my existence,” he said. C. A. M. Tobias
