Born: 1934 Free City of Danzig
Biography
Artist Genie Poretzky-Lee was born into a Jewish family in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) on 2 January 1934. Classically trained at the Académie Julian in Paris, she began her artistic journey through drawing and sculpture, mastering traditional techniques, but soon seeking to transcend conventional boundaries. Her curiosity led her to incorporate textiles, painting, and mixed media practices in search of new modes of expression. In 1980, after moving to London, Poretzky-Lee became a founding member of the textile-based art collective, Fibre Art. Collaborating with Professor Janis Jeffries and Marta Rogoyska, she created works characterised by pattern, repetition, and tactile qualities, echoing her fascination with weaving’s interplay between warp and weft. This decade-long engagement (1980–90) underscored a meditative, rhythmic approach to making. By the mid-1990s, however, she felt limited by textile conventions, prompting a shift towards abstract painting. Guided by the philosophy of alchemy, she incorporated sand, crystals, and organic materials into her canvases, enabling surfaces to evolve organically into laboratories of transformation and ritual.
Poretzky-Lee’s abstraction resonates with the interplay between sacred traditions, exemplified by Russian icons, and the radical freedoms of avant-garde abstractionists, such as Malevich. However, as art historian Andrew Spira suggests, this framework does not fully capture the complexity of her evolving practice, which invites viewers not merely to perceive a sense of balance but to actively engage in its continuous renegotiation. Her use of earthy, natural colours—reminiscent of pebbles glimpsed beneath water or sunlight filtering through leaves—anchors her abstraction firmly within sensory experience rather than geometrical rigour. Recent works demonstrate a more luminous and fluid layering of translucent colours and intersecting forms, evoking crystalline structures and cathedral-like spaces. These later compositions are marked by spontaneity and intuitive joy, reflecting a shift toward freer, more dynamic explorations. Her reflective approach to abstraction is exemplified by paintings such as To the Four Directions. Poet Aidan Andrew Dun describes this work as a darkly hypnotic ‘cosmic diagram’, a visual meditation guiding viewers through existential turmoil toward redemption (Dun, 'Bridges to the Inexpressible'). Dun emphasises her use of abstraction, not simply as aesthetic experimentation, but as philosophical inquiry into reality’s deeper nature. Her work contrasts horizontal experiences—symbolic of everyday linear existence—with vertical ascents toward spiritual consciousness. Thus, abstraction for Poretzky Lee becomes a philosophical and transformative process, challenging conventional perceptions and bridging tangible realities with invisible, spiritual realms.
Her longstanding interest in Hermetic traditions and ancient Egyptian practices was revitalised following a trip to Egypt in 2012, leading to her Canopic Jars series (2012–19). Inspired by ancient burial rituals, these sculptures repurpose everyday glass containers filled with materials, including soil, copper wire, desert rose roots, and antique perfume bottles. These sealed vessels undergo slow transformations—fermenting, sprouting, or decaying—mirroring life cycles metaphorically. Some jars develop their own miniature ecosystems, moss growing alongside lichen, or roots slowly decaying, highlighting both life’s fragility and resilience. Allowing these processes to unfold organically, Poretzky-Lee embraces unpredictability, becoming a witness rather than controller of these miniature worlds.
Her installation, Transition – the Endless Knot (2013), embodies her exploration of metaphysical and spiritual concepts. Derived from Buddhist symbolism, the endless knot represents cyclical existence and timelessness. Poretzky Lee invites visitors to interact physically, tying personal reflections into the installation, fostering communal, ceremonial transformation. This emphasis on exchange and generosity continues in her Drawing A Year project (2022–23), in which she created one drawing daily and freely gave them upon request, demonstrating creativity flourishing outside commercial pressures. She compares herself to the ‘Fool’ from the Tarot pack, boldly stepping into unknown creative territory, guided by generosity and openness, merging the spiritual and the everyday through art (Drawing a Year website). In 2024, Poretzky-Lee initiated a series of layered collage drawings inspired by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, exploring tensions between human ambition and unintended consequences, contrasting the catastrophe’s violent rupture with nature’s quiet reclamation of the contaminated landscape. By juxtaposing destruction and renewal, she underscores civilisation’s vulnerability and nature’s resilient persistence.
In 2020 Poretsky-Lee published her children's book, Between Now and Then, recalling the story of two Jewish siblings in German-occupied France during the Second World War, based on her own experiences. In parallel to her creative work, Poretzky-Lee has taught Fine Art extensively in Adult Education across London, and complemented her artistic practice with a longstanding role as a healer. For her, art and healing represent interconnected paths toward renewal and contemplation. Collaboration has also significantly shaped her journey, notably with poet Jay Ramsay (1958–2018). Together, in 2001, they founded the Blue Lotus Foundation in London—a serene venue dedicated to workshops, poetry readings, and art exhibitions. The Foundation, named after the Nymphaea Caerulea (Blue Water Lily), symbolises enlightenment, rebirth, and the bridging of higher consciousness, aligning closely with Poretzky-Lee’s themes of transformation and interconnectedness. Recent exhibitions include her installation Perception at the Camden Garden Centre (2022) and Vicissitudes: New Drawings at the Blue Lotus Foundation (2024–25). Poretszky-Lee’s work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Related books
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, Chernobyl's Chronicles (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2025)
- Drawing a Year, Day by Day (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2024)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, Between Now and Then (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2020)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee and Marlene Saliba, The Language of the Birds (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2018)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee and Anna Walker, Blue (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2018)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, Incantation: Volume 3 (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2016)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, Incantation: Volume 1 (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2015)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, Spheres: A Path of Many Windings (Blurb, 2013)
- Genie Poretzky Lee, Fixing the Omens (Blurb, 2012)
- Genie Poretzky-Lee and Jay Ramsay, Alchemy of the Invisible (London: Blue Lotus Foundation, 2001)
Related organisations
- Académie Julian, Paris (student)
- Blue Lotus Foundation (co-founder)
- Fibre Art Collective (founding memner)
Related web links
- Aidan Andrew Dun, Bridges to the Inexpressible – an Introduction to the Work of Genie Poretzky-Lee
- Andrew Spira, former Course Director of Christie’s Education, on the work of Genie Poretzky-Lee
- Artist’s website
- ‘Canopic Jars: the Afterlife of Matter’, The Learned Pig, 13 July 2020
- Dr Anna Walker, Becoming Bird: an Artist's Reflection on Listening and Making, Unlikely, Journal for Creative Arts
- Drawing a Year project
- Espacio Gallery
- Film ‘Imprint’, a collaboration between Aidan A. Dun, Lucie Rejchrtova and Genie Poretzky-Lee, Candid Arts, 2014
- Renée Pfister Art Consultancy
- The Blue Lotus Foundation
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, 'Between Now and Then' children's book
Selected exhibitions
- Genie Poretzky-Lee, Carol Laidler, Jo Milne and Anna Walker, Invocation: The Shape of Things (group show), Blue Lotus Foundation, London (2025)
- Vicissitudes: New Drawings by Genie Poretzky-Lee, Blue Lotus Foundation, London (2025)
- Perception, an Art Installation, Camden Garden Centre, London (2021–22)
- The Colour of Pomegranates Part 2 - the digital space, DAR (Digital Artist Residency), Oxford (2020)
- The Colour of Pomegranates: a collaborative installation, The Blue Lotus Foundation, London, (2018)
- Spring Fling installation, Daniel Raphael, London (2017)
- Installation, The Blue Lotus Foundation, London (2015)
- Imprint video collaboration, Candid Arts, London (2014)
- Installation: Antara, Lumen United Reform Church, Bloomsbury, London (2013)
