Kym Lee, Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory member provides some fascinating insights into her practice and experience as a Melbourne-based Visual Artist & Designer, as she responds to the questions below:
- If you had to choose only three words that you feel describe your work, what would they be? And why?
- Many things inundate our daily lives. What role do you feel art and the artist still have in today’s society?
- If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be with and why?
- What do you think is the single most important piece of advice you have been given as an artist?
If you had to choose only three words that you feel describe your work, what would they be? And why?
Emotional, Metaphoric, Thought-provoking.
My work is emotional because it’s rooted in feeling — not just my own, but a wider empathy for animals and all living beings, for quiet moments, for things unspoken. It’s metaphoric because I often use symbolism and visual allegory to explore deeper ideas — a floating page, a tea bag in snow, or an animal mid-gaze. And thought-provoking because I want to leave the viewer with questions, not conclusions — to stir something contemplative, intimate, or unresolved.
Many things inundate our daily lives. What role do you feel art and the artist still have in today’s society?
Art isn’t just decoration — it’s dialogue. It allows us to confront what’s happening in the world through a emotional and also an objective lens. I believe artists have a responsibility to reflect, respond and share. Whether it’s through beauty, discomfort, tenderness or critique, art can cut through the noise in a way when no words need to be spoken. It helps us remember what matters, the environment, our shared humanity, the inner life that can’t be quantified. We may not solve problems directly, but we reveal them, soften them, or open up new ways of seeing.
If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be with and why?
I have a lot of favorites, one is René Magritte. His ability to take the familiar and make it strange, to create visual riddles that linger in the mind, aligns closely with my own love of metaphor and layered meaning. I imagine collaborating on a scene where a quiet animal gesture or unexpected object speaks louder than words. It would be surreal, introspective, and filled with quiet tension.
What do you think is the single most important piece of advice you have been given as an artist?
One of the most important pieces of advice I’ve ever received is to keep experimenting and exploring. Not to wait for perfection, or for things to make sense straight away. Some of the most powerful work comes from staying curious and taking risks — even just small ones. Each piece, successful or not, leads somewhere new. It’s that willingness to keep exploring, even through self doubt and uncertainty, that keeps the work alive.
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