Lee Scratch Perry

“I am an alien from the other world, from outer space, I don’t have no land, no estate, no property, no house. Not on this earth. I live in space — I’m only a visitor here.“ Lee ​“Scratch” Perry.

Recently deceased Jamaican musician and artist Lee ​“Scratch” Perry was best known for his work as a record producer and singer. Integrating all kinds of musical styles and sounds into his productions, he invented remix and mash-up — which are so essential to music today. As an innovative and visionary producer, in the 1960s and 1970s Perry greatly contributed to the Jamaican music scene. At the end of the 1980s he left Jamaica and settled in Switzerland.

Perry produced music by using many different technical procedures and also Shamanistic influences. In the 1990s, he also became known for his visual practice, which like his music was based on sampling and mixing. His installations include all genres from paintings to religious artefacts, and a great many other objects that are often connected to Pan-Africanism and Rastafarianism.

Perry affixed drawings, paintings, and texts onto the walls of his studio and used them on record covers, but they later became autonomous and independent works. In this way Perry created a universe that is contrasted and cross-pollinated by syncretic influences ranging from figures from Catholicism to Obeah, a system of spiritual and legal practices that was developed by enslaved West Africans in the Caribbean. Perry’s often humorous paintings and sculptures are frequently contrasted with autobiographical compositions, in a network that was continuously rearranged, with each new constellation creating different meanings. The artist’s work cuts across different genres, combining the written word, images, mirrors, photographs, and appropriated objects with other elements that were often cut, burned, or painted. The works are frequently imbued with spirituality, bringing to life a kind of magic Pantheon in the ceaseless endeavor to honor omnipotent powers.

A room in the exhibition Systems of Belief is dedicated to Lee ​“Scratch” Perry, presenting works from the artist’s studio in a small town near Zurich that have never been shown before. One result of his expansive working methods was the inclusion of his studio in the works, as he saw the studio as the medium for his in-situ installations. For the exhibition, the paneled north and east walls of the studio were removed and reinstalled in the HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark. For the installation here, recourse was made to a site-specific method used by the artist — frequently including stones from the nearest lake, river, or sea in his installations. Here therefore stones from the river Mur, which runs through Graz, have been used. These are known as Murnockerln.

It seems that small hand-held or smartphone cameras were Perry’s permanent companions. Video material that he filmed is presented on seven screens, material that is physically close to the artist and often seems very intimate. These films were frequently casually made, showing Perry himself in his studio and going about his everyday life. As well as the original studio walls, further objects displayed here provide insight into the artist’s additive practice.

It is not easy to clearly place the work of Lee ​“Scratch” Perry within any art-historical canon, as it displays a noticeable resistance to classical conventions and concepts of the work of art. Looking at the strange artefacts that this artist and musician has left to posterity, it would seem that considering him in terms of ​“counter culture” would be more productive. This concept is mainly used referring to the new left movement in the 1960s, which was active above all in Western Europe and North America. This also includes the free speech movement, established in the USA from various forms of student protest and also energetically campaigning for the civil rights of Black Americans.

The concept of counter culture can also apply to various musical trends of the period. In the 1960s and 1970 the genre of dub emerged in Jamaica, which remixed reggae with manipulated electronic effects. The music that this led to is characterized by repetition and serial arrangements of identical sequences, a structure that seems as if it could be endlessly repeated. These almost infinitely stretchable songs resist the idea of a work with a clear beginning and end. At the same time, Jamaican music of this time is strongly connected to religious ideas from the African diaspora, which took the form of Rastafarianism in Jamaica. The increasing popularity of Jamaican music in the West also made its underlying ideas and history popular, supporting spiritual ideas and non-Western historiography. All of these components are significant to an understanding of the holistic work of Lee ​“Scratch” Perry, but it is probably most important to grasp his impulsive and intuitive approach to the world and his own creative work.


The Blue Ark, 2016 – 2021
Site-specific installation consisting of wall paneling (North wall and East wall), drawings, collages, sculptures, objects, words, and videos from the Blue Ark studio, Einsiedeln (CH)

JESUS CHRISt, JAH, SELASSIE, UNAGED, CANt DEAD, DROP DEAD, £AtE, SUN, B£E$$ED, JUStICE, INRI, I AM tHE UPSEttER, U$A, GANDA£, HA HA HA, AINt B£OOD$, COLD LOVE KILLA, SCRAtCH, NO EVE, MAD, B£ACK ARK, FUCK YOU, CROOKS, DABOO, BABOON, BAM DUtY PUSSY, BAM BAM HAtER, $HIt PIt, EAt SHIt, ENDGELLS, NOAH’S ARK, NEPtUNE, BRIMStONE & FYA, ABCDEFGHIJLKLMONOPQRStUVWXWZION, tHE ARK OF tHE COVENANt, $$PACE ORBIt, BIRD FEAtHERS, PIECES AND AIRES, YIN AND YANG, EZEKIEL, OBEAH VIALS, LION OF JUDAH, LORD KRISHNA, tHE StAR OF DAVID, BABYLON, CLOSE ENCOUNtERS OF tHE ANGELIC KIND, ALIENS AND LIONS, MAGIC BLACK WIDOW, BUM ZAP, MY KOON, JAMtOOL AFRICA, SPIt, SUERtE, UNDEAD, KING LIZARD, IN-BAGG, UNNAGGA, RAIN GOD PIPE, SAINtS AND ANGELS, BOB OBYAH DEAD XMZ, FLOOD SUN, GENESIS, tHE BLACK MADONNA, ALCHIMIE & MYStIQUE, BOO L$D £$P BA$$ FOO„£1 £2 £5 £10 £20 £50, IMMANUEL, MAGIC tHE GAtHERING, FLAG OF JAMAICA, tHE GREAt QUEENS OF AFRICA, COWS, KING SOLOMON, StARS, CD’S, RAStA CHILD, ENERGY FLASH, tRIPE HOt ICE, GOD RAIN, tHANK YOU, ROOt MUZICK, £A £A £A, JAPAN LASt, PISS, CHEE CHEE JA WEE WEE, tEARS JESUS FREE, FINA££Y, GOVERNMENt OPEN LOCK ORE ELSE KAPOW, FROM RAIN BASS AND DRUM, HOLY SHIt BELLY, WORLD MAPS, SHIVA, tHE BLACK StAR LINER, UFOS, BOB MARLEY, MERLIN tHE WIZARD, KING tUt, SUPERMAN, HINDI, BUDDHA, GANJAH, BLADE VAMPIRE HUNtER, RAINDROPS, WONDER WOMAN, EtHIOPIA, APES, BANANAS, ELIJAH, PLANEtS, PYRAMIDS, SPHINX, HOROSCOPES, JUStICE tUNDER X PLOSSION, MOUNt ZION, REGGAE JAM, £IGHt, ROCKS AND MIRRORS,…AND MANY MANY PICtURES OF £$P


List of works (in alphabetic order)

Bird Cage, undated
Bird cage, stones, mixed media
87 × 42 × 42 cm

Blue Ark North Wall, 2016 – 2021
Mixed media on canvas, dreamcatcher, hat, framed image
350 × 490 cm

Blue Ark East wall, 2016 – 2021
Paint, paper, collage, mixed media on styrofoam panels
250 × 630 cm

Bob X Obyah Dead, 2018
Oil crayon on paper
55 × 45 cm

Boo LSD LSP, 2021
Feltpen on styrofoam
50 × 80,5 cm

Ethiopia-Selassie, undated
Laminated collage
74 × 47 cm

Flood Sun, 2020
Collage, markers, acrylic on wooden board
60 × 100 cm

Genesis, 2020
Collage and acrylic on paper
70 × 50 cm

God Rain, 2016 – 2021
Collage on canvas, two dream- catchers, mirrors, money, mixed media
109 × 61 cm (collage); 53 × 18 cm / 41 × 18 cm (dreamcatchers)

Government open lock, 2020
Marker, oil crayon on canvas
102 × 53 cm

Holy Shit Belly, undated
Yellow Suitcase
75 × 42 × 27 cm

Justice Tunder, 2018
Oil crayon and acrylic on paper
55 × 45 cm 55 × 45 cm

Laptop (Black Ark), ca. 2009
Collage, tape reels on laptop
26 × 38 cm

Lightning Rod, 2016 – 2021
Wire, necklaces, charms, bibles, mixed media
Variable dimension

LSP Tiki Shrine, 2020
Mixed media, wood
93,5 × 63 cm

Mount Zion Hand, 2018
Oil crayon on paper
50 × 40 cm

Nativity Painting (Reggae Jam), 2018
Collage and acrylic on canvas
140 × 170 cm

Pisces and Aries (Yin Yang), 2020
Collage and acrylic on canvas
170 × 140 cm

Sphynx-Horoskop, 2020
Acrylic and mixed media on wooden board
80 × 60 cm

The Hunted Ones, 2020
Marker and collage on canvas
80 × 54 cm

Turtle Mirror, 2020
Mixed media on mirror
50 × 35 cm

TV Sculpture, 2020
TV stand, stuffed animals, mixed media
Variable dimension

TV Sculpture, 2017 – 2021
TV, collage, scarf, captain’s hat
57 × 57 × 50 cm

Untitled, 2011
Collage, marker, acrylic on cardboard, wooden frame
109 × 75 cm

Untitled, undated
Aluminum box lid with mixed media
19 × 19 cm

Untitled, undated
Collage on mirror
49,5 × 42,28 cm

Untitled, undated
Plastic basket with mixed media
34 × 34 cm

Untitled, undated
Mixed media on MDF
49 × 70 cm

Untitled, undated
Pan, cakepan, stones, mixed media
49 × 30 cm, 20 × 20 cm

Wall-Pole, 2016 – 2021
Wooden pole, cap, chains, mixed materials
255 × 20 × 10 cm

Miscellaneous sheets, posters, Murnockerl (stones from the river Mur)

All works courtesy The Visual Estate of Lee Scratch Perry / suns.works, Zurich