The coming of Mr. Reagan Lee into the attention of Guangdong Museum of Art is attributable to our active participation and calm observation of the history of contemporary art, especially our experience of research into the art ecological environment since the 85 Ideological Trend. China has impressed the world deeply with the rich wealth of works on individuals, social conditions, history, the environment, and other aspects attributed to its sustainable and rapid economic development since 1979. In this special historical period Reagan, with his foresight, made efforts to introduce Western artistic thoughts and ideas, and explored into the reconciliation between them and Chinese native culture and society. His politic pops and pink portrait series have well demonstrated his vision towards the world.

　　To seek international dialogues, numerous artists travel to advanced Western countries with their dreams of contemporary art. But Reagan chose a quite different place: Seychelles in Africa. He has lived there for nearly 10 years before move to Europe and then settles down in New Zealand. During these 20 years, he has suffered from life difficulties, disequilibrium of art and turbulence in his soul. What’s adorable is that he has braved his heart, broken away from tradition and no longer tried to experience the pleasure of beating waves and winds in the vast contemporary trends. This seems to diverge from the frontier of the world's artistic environment to the focus on reality-based experience of individuals, as a result of which, his art practice has gained a colossal and multiple touch of life with it, candor and sensitivity. Reagan absorbs the essence of expressionism, gains inspiration from the combination of Chinese painting materials and language, and displays his innovative resources in a posture of pure expressionism. It is the very reason and passion, talent and unrestrainedness that have combined to form Reagan's brilliant and most individualistic soul in the painting community.

　　Guangdong Museum of Art pays consistent attention to the up-to-date movements of overseas Chinese and returned artists, and classifies them academically in a serious manner. Naturally, such a unique artist as Reagan has come under our artistic scrutiny. Our sponsorship of "Melancholy Within the Cross: Reagan’s Ink--Wash" and relevant seminars, and our compilation and publication of a large-scale painting collection by Reagan, is designed, through an in-depth discussion and display of Li's art practice, to further explore how Chinese artists, when dislodged from the current Chinese historical context, can find globalized drive for innovation and seek after more possible directions. Focusing on individual cases, considering "the current art" from a historical perspective, defining the connection and difference between individual cases and the whole picture --the approach of regarding the environment as the dominant factor, we believe, is feasible in considering the logic of art development.

　　Luo Yiping

　　Director of Guangdong Museum of Art

　　July 2012