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Big Bang Theory
Project Type
Exhibition
Date
2017
Role
Curator
Location
Len Lye Centre, New Zealand
Photography credits
Sam Hartnett
Len Lye’s acclaimed kinetic sculpture and his stardom in the world of
cinema are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the artist’s
practice. The definitive multimedia artist, Lye was a prolific painter
throughout his career. "Big Bang Theory" unveils for the first time since
1980 Lye’s large ‘myth’ paintings – one of his most personal projects
and a fascinating insight into Lye’s unique artistic vision.
Made during a burst of intense activity in his final years while living
in New York and Puerto Rico, this suite of works captures Lye’s
pursuit of pre-conscious inspiration. Lye believed in a deep body of
unconscious imagery and knowledge known as the ‘Old Brain’. This
could be accessible when we stop the modern ‘New Brain pushing it
around’.
I’ve doodled to assuage my hunger for some hypnotic image
I’ve never seen before. Seems to be somehow mysteriously
magical, I don’t know what the hell it is. And look at it and
wonder, did that fascinating-looking thing come out of ME?
– Len Lye
Like his films and sculpture, these paintings are reflections of a
natural world ‘divined’ from the human body – knowledge and
experience recorded in our DNA. With an artistic hand driven by the
freedom of ‘doodling’, Lye explored a world beyond which we see with
our modern minds, delving deeper in ancient mythology and human
identity, searching our primordial DNA for the ‘happiness acid’.



