Wee Lee is an award winning nature artist and his technique combines Western realism with Oriental brushwork. Wee Lee studied Chinese brush painting at the Oriental Art School in Saigon before moving to Canada in 1978. Wee Lee is fascinated by all living creatures in the environment. His close-up, intimate paintings of nature capture the birds, flora and fauna of our local parks, wilderness refuges and even his own backyard. Wee Lee has traveled extensively and his most recent trip to Australia provided the inspiration for a few of the paintings in the show.

In addition to his active exhibition record, Wee Lee has painted dioramas for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and murals for the City of Moose Jaw and Duck Lake. Wee Lee's work is part of many public and private collections including, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Saskatchewan Arts Board, City of Regina, Dofasco Canadian Collection, Ducks Unlimited, the University of South Dakota and SGI Canada to name a few.

Artist statement:

"As an artist originally trained in Oriental brush work, I am always fascinated by the bold emotional brush strokes and its strong simplicity composition in Chinese Art Form. On the other hand, the Western meticulous detailed realism would allow me to show realistic existence of the subject matter. It is wonderful to have the experience to combine both Oriental and Western style in rendering the natural world in my work.

Since my early childhood, I have had a profound passion towards nature, I am interested in not only the living creatures but also other elements in the ecosystem which includes the hidden beauty of undergrowth, tiny unnoticeable rocks, fungi and so on.

It is natural for me to portray them in my work, also I attempt to express philosophy of Life and Death, Yin and Yang through observations of the subject matter into visual form."

Gainsborough Galleries is proud to represent the works of Wee Lee.