“We’re living in a very busy era, where there are too many creations, too many thinkings, and it can be quite overwhelming, and it’s not resonant with nature. I want people to take a deep breath, stop for a moment, and gaze at each other. I want to create that in-between space where you can step back, and think, and reflect.”

When Lee debuted at the art gallery in 1976, he showed a single lightbulb suspended over a bare canvas.

In his latest exhibition, Quiet Resonance, he presents a version of that work with a lightbulb suspended over a boulder to create shadows that encourage contemplation. The sense is one of solitude and weightlessness.

Eastburn said Lee’s show comprises eight entirely new works, including four paintings in saturated colours and four new sculptures that are a continuation of the Relatum series the artist began six decades ago. He designed the exhibition spaces and selected the imposing granite stones from regional NSW.

Lee was co-founder of the Mono-ha group, a Japanese contemporary art movement that rejects Western notions of representation, focusing on the relationships between materials and perceptions rather than on expression or intervention.

Brand said Lee had inspired prominent artists such as Anish Kapoor and Park Seo-Bo, and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando.

He compared his international status to celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose sunny spotted flowers stand on the roof terrace of the new gallery building, Naala Badu.

The gallery said it did not disclose the costs of its privately funded art commissions, but it had been made possible by a generous bequest by the late James Brownlow and Doug Small, who worked as architects and loved the beauty of restraint, especially in Asian art.

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