"New Line Continued" 2018
Oil on canvas
77' x 101' inches / 196 x 257 cm
Marco & Lee
Keng Wai Lee's beautiful oriental style works are an infusion of cool with a contemporary vibe, inspired by his childhood in the far east.
Keng Wai Lee’s gorgeously rich animal impressions are a synergy of decorative tableaux and depiction in paint on canvas of his memories and imagination.
“Using acrylic as a medium, I tend to reminisce through my past getting inspiration to create my artwork. This may come from remembering allmy scribbles in my textbooks/school books full of monsters and machines in a apocalyptic world or just indulging in my hobbies of looking at swimming goldfish and local bird watching through my window for hours on end, giving them names and characters.”
Keng Wai Lee
Marco’s background is in engineering and architecture, making him familiar with mathematical design and the awareness of geometry.
When he decided to create art, he was naturally drawn to cartography, applying traditional techniques such as multiple Cartesian coordinates and polar system coordinates to maps he draws.
He is also deeply influenced by astronomy and navigation, frequently using charts for positioning at sea using star systems as well as revolution of the sun charts in his Mappa Mundi.
His maps are done in ink, acrylic, watercolour and gild on canvas.
The collaboration between Keng Wai Lee and Marco Araldi is based on the contrast between the techniques used. Marco uses ink pen and gold, creating geometrical patterns and graphic illustrations.
His background is in engineering and architecture, making him familiar with mathematical design and the awareness of geometry. Lee's technique frequents the use of acrylic, focusing on impressions of subjects taken from nature: flowers, picturesque scenery, ocean habitats and birds. His gorgeously rich and colourful paintings are a synergy of decorative tableaux and depiction in paint on canvas of his memories and imagination.
The merging of these two different styles create a unique amalgamation of hard lines and soft painterly brushtrokes, working with the gilded canvases that give the artwork an extra dimension based on light refraction.