Artist: Ricky Lee Gordon
Title: The ocean our teacher of a romantic realism
Materials: Charcoal, pigment dye and acrylic on raw canvas
Dimensions: ± 245x190cm

In 2020 we sent Ricky Lee Gordon on a trip to Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka. During this time Ricky Lee Gordon worked on a series of paintings titled ‘The ocean our teacher of a romantic realism’. In ancient Eastern culture, the tide doesn’t just refer to water cycles caused by sun and moon, but actually refers to the concept of all time. Buddhist monks would ride/dance on waves for the emperor to show they could manipulate time. This image and idea carry a natural beauty to me, with the water being a teacher and water as time and existence itself. A surfer knows this feeling.

About the artist:
Originally from South Africa, Ricky Lee Gordon is now living and working in Sri Lanka, where he founded Śūnyatā, an artist residency retreat. From the studio here, Ricky works on his artworks from a meditative environment which allows him to explore his ideas without compromise. His work is inspired by his own experiences in meditation and Buddhist Dharma (the law of nature), sometimes his work is abstract and deconstructed and sometimes straight forward and didactic.

You can find more work of Ricky on his website: www.rickyleegordon.com