About the Artist
Jaee Tee (b. Malaysia) is a self-taught artist based in Kuala Lumpur , whose practice explores the invisible dimensions of landscape, tracing the unseen energies, rhythms, and forces that connect all living things through abstraction.
Her artistic approach is shaped by New Materialism, Indigenous perspectives on nature, and scientific research into plant intelligence—perspectives that challenge traditional human-centered views of nature. Tee works primarily with acrylics and oils, occasionally weaving in mineral pigments and ash. Her intuitive gestures seek out the quiet intelligence, living memory, and the silent agency that stirs within the land.Tee’s paintings and installations grapple with ecological and planetary grief, reflecting on extraction, excavation, and the silent wounds borned by our living earth.
Drawing on her Chinese heritage, Tee employs techniques reminiscent of traditional ink painting—working with translucent, fluid layers of acrylic and oil. Her brushwork carries the spirit of Chinese ink traditions: intuitive, gestural, alive with rhythm. The influence of ink painting lends her surfaces a quality of lightness and movement, even as they grapple with heavier themes.
Tee approaches the canvas as a living surface, beginning with sweeping, gestural movements that respond to an inner rhythm. Fragments of memory and experience are translated into forms: branches swaying, leaves fluttering, mountains dissolving into distant horizons—merging the tangible with the intangible. Bold, messy strokes punctuate the fluid grounds, creating a dynamic tension between control and spontaneity.
Layers are built up and scraped away, rubbed with cloths, or pressed directly against rough surfaces. Tee works not only with traditional Chinese brushes but also with broken branches, stones, and natural elements gathered from the landscape, grounding her abstractions in physical traces of the earth. Oil sticks are used to scribble raw, urgent lines across the surface, tracing fleeting pulses of motion and memory.
Her paintings carry the tension between stillness and movement, vulnerability and force, echoing the silent agency of the land itself. Each work becomes a living field—embodying not only personal memory, but the dynamic energies that stir beneath the visible world.
Tee has collaborated with corporate brands such as McLaren Kuala Lumpur and Banyan Tree Hotels, and is currently developing new projects that continue her exploration of ecological consciousness in contemporary art.
Artist Statement
As an artist, my work carries the traces of my faith, memories, philosophical convictions, ideas and people that have broadened my perspectives- each leaves a subtle imprint on my practice. My relationship with the natural world began early, growing up in a house that sat at the edge of a small jungle in Malaysia, where I spent my happiest moments following ant trails, collecting red saga seeds, and wandering my father’s coffee plantation. These early experiences forged an intimate bond with the living landscape—a connection that continues to shape my practice today.
My work explores the invisible dimensions of landscape, tracing the unseen energies, rhythms, and forces that connect all living things.My faith teaches me to approach the natural world with reverence, humility, and a deep sense of stewardship.My current research into New Materialism, Indigenous perspectives on nature, and scientific studies of plant intelligence has led me to create a new body of work that grapples with these realities—reflecting on extraction, excavation, and the emotional landscape of planetary grief—revealing both the wounds inflicted upon the land and the deep scars left behind.
My practice calls for a shift in perspective: away from human-centered thinking, toward a deeper kinship with the living earth and an appreciation for the immaterial, unseen forces that quietly shape our existence.