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The Transit of Venus

2014

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

14 x 14-5/16 inches

35.5 x 36.3 cm

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The Transit of Venus

2014

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

14 x 14-5/16 inches

35.5 x 36.3 cm

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The Transit of Venus IV

2014

Ink on polypropylene

13-9/16 x 15-3/4 inches

34,5 x 40 cm

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The Transit of Venus IV

2014

Ink on polypropylene

13-9/16 x 15-3/4 inches

34,5 x 40 cm

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The Transit of Venus XXV, 2014

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

29-1/2 x 25-1/4 inches

75 x 64.2 cm

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The Transit of Venus XXV, 2014

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

29-1/2 x 25-1/4 inches

75 x 64.2 cm

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THE BOTANIST, 2014

Installation view, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
LEFT : Maiore V, 2013, Ink on polypropylene, 50-11/16 x 69-1/2 inches; 128.7 x 176.5 cm
RIGHT : Maiore XV, Ink on polypropylene, 120-1/2 x 151-5/8 inches; 306 x 385.2 cm ×

THE BOTANIST, 2014

Installation view, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
LEFT : Maiore V, 2013, Ink on polypropylene, 50-11/16 x 69-1/2 inches; 128.7 x 176.5 cm
RIGHT : Maiore XV, Ink on polypropylene, 120-1/2 x 151-5/8 inches; 306 x 385.2 cm ×
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Maiore, 2013

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

49-13/16 x 68-1/2 inches

126.5 x 174 cm

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Maiore, 2013

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

49-13/16 x 68-1/2 inches

126.5 x 174 cm

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Maiore V, 2013

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

50-11/16 x 69-1/2 inches

128.7 x 176.5 cm

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Maiore V, 2013

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

50-11/16 x 69-1/2 inches

128.7 x 176.5 cm

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Maiore IX

2013

Ink on polypropylene

68-9/16 x 50-5/8 inches 174.2 x 128.5 cm

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Maiore IX

2013

Ink on polypropylene

68-9/16 x 50-5/8 inches 174.2 x 128.5 cm

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THE BOTANIST, 2014 

Installation view, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore

LEFT : Maiore IX, 2013, Ink and watercolor on polypropylene, 50-5/8 x 68-9/16 inches; 128.5 x 174.2 cm
RIGHT : Manava, 2013, Ink on polypropylene, 69 x 50-5/8 inches; 175.3 x 128.5 cm ×

THE BOTANIST, 2014 

Installation view, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore

LEFT : Maiore IX, 2013, Ink and watercolor on polypropylene, 50-5/8 x 68-9/16 inches; 128.5 x 174.2 cm
RIGHT : Manava, 2013, Ink on polypropylene, 69 x 50-5/8 inches; 175.3 x 128.5 cm ×
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Manava I

2013

Ink on polypropylene

69 x 50-5/8 inches 175.3 x 128.5 cm

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Manava I

2013

Ink on polypropylene

69 x 50-5/8 inches 175.3 x 128.5 cm

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THE BOTANIST, 2014

Installation view, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
RIGHT : Matari'i (Diptych), 2014, Ink on polypropylene, 120-1/2 x 101-1/8 inches; 306.1 x 257.4 cm ×

THE BOTANIST, 2014

Installation view, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore
RIGHT : Matari'i (Diptych), 2014, Ink on polypropylene, 120-1/2 x 101-1/8 inches; 306.1 x 257.4 cm ×
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Matari'i (Diptych), 2014

Ink on polypropylene

120-1/2 x 101-1/8 inches

306.1 x 257.4 cm

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Matari'i (Diptych), 2014

Ink on polypropylene

120-1/2 x 101-1/8 inches

306.1 x 257.4 cm

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Maiore X, 2013

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

69 x 50-11/16 inches

175.3 x 128.7 cm

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Maiore X, 2013

THE BOTANIST
Ink on polypropylene

69 x 50-11/16 inches

175.3 x 128.7 cm

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Matavai VIII

2014

Sargassum, glue, watercolor on paper

12 x 9 inches 30.5 x 22.9 cm

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Matavai VIII

2014

Sargassum, glue, watercolor on paper

12 x 9 inches 30.5 x 22.9 cm

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THE BOTANIST, 2014

THE BOTANIST is a series of works in which Alexander Lee revisits the theme of the ‘uru (breadfruit), continuing his investigation into the cultural narratives of Tahiti.

The title of the exhibition makes reference to Joseph Banks, the botanist onboard James Cook’s first expedition of discovery in the South Seas, but for Lee, also alludes to Rua-ta’ata, the man who sacrificed himself and transformed his body into a tree bearing fruit to feed his famished family, in the Polynesian legend relating the origins of the breadfruit.

In the colonial history of the islands, Banks would become caretaker of the Royal Gardens at Kew, and be the instigator of the 1789 HMS Bounty expedition to Tahiti, with the mission of gathering breadfruit plants to cultivate in the Caribbean. The expedition’s events were made popular in the 1932 novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall titled Mutiny on the Bounty, and Hollywood adapted the book to cinema several times, with actors Clark Gable, Marlon Brando, and Mel Gibson. Banks would also give his name to Banks’ Florilegium, a collection of engravings of plant specimen collected by himself and Daniel Solander while on James Cook’s first Voyage of Discovery.

Using the leaves of the ‘uru tree in his childhood home, Lee dips them in ink and hand presses them onto sheets of polypropylene, and into compositions reminiscent of Polynesian head ornaments and necklaces made with plants, large traditional tapas, handmade pareos, celestial navigational maps, flowerly bouquets. For the artist, the gesture and its imprints, at once decorative and uncanny, become a Florilegium of cultural motifs, not from the occidental other, but as imagined by the native self, at once subject and object.

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