Throughout his life, Lye's writing accompanied his art, from his earliest sketchbooks to his later slide-tape lectures on the subject of art itself. Some of his work dealt with creativity and life in a philosophical and scientific framework, particularly in the 1940s, when he developed a political and aesthetic theory called Individual Happiness Now. He also wrote free-flowing poetry and prose, fanciful letters and stories, showing the same joyful sensitivity to language as he took in colour, rhythm and motion. Autobiographical fragments, surreal imagistic stories and poems about his childhood and early life which he called "Happy Moments" throw light on some of the ideas and feelings that influenced his work, such as 'composing motion' and 'sense exercises'.
A selection of Lye's poetry and prose is published online at the New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre |