Overview

Whereas traditional photography submits extracts of reality to our eyes, South Korean multidisciplinary artist JeeYoung Lee offers excerpts from her heart, her memory, or her dreams...

Restrained by the inherent limits of the conventional photographic medium, she adds plastic creativity and theatrical performance to it, in order to blow life into her immense needs of expression, and interrogation.

 

For weeks, sometimes months, she creates the fabric of a universe born from her mind within the confines of her 3 x 6 m studio. She does so with infinite minutiae and extraordinary patience, in order to exclude any ulterior photographic alteration. Thus materialised, these worlds turn real and concretise : imagination reverts to the tangible and the photo imagery of such fiction testify as to their reality.  In the midst of each of these sets stands the artist : those self-portraits however are never frontal, since it is never her visual aspect she shows, but rather her quest for an identity, her desires and her frame of mind. Her creations act as a catharsis which allows her to accept social repression and frustrations. The moment required to set the stage gives her time to meditate about the causes of her interior conflicts and hence exorcise them; once experienced, they in turn become portents of hope.

 

Recipient of multiple artistic awards including the Sovereign Art Prize (2012), JeeYoung Lee is one the most promising up-and-rising figureheads of the younger Korean artistic world. Following the huge success of her first solo show outside of Korea with OPIOM Gallery in 2014, her work was seen 500 000 times on Reddit in just 2 days and has been featured in the worldwide media from the USA to China (all international editions of the Huffington Post, NBC news, CNN international, France 3 National news, China Daily, etc.). While she has created installations in major institutions all around the world, from San Francisco to Australia via Spain and Singapore, her photographs can be found in international public such as the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts' as well as in private collections around the world.

Series
Works
  • JeeYoung Lee, Contact, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Contact, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Fade Away, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Fade Away, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Fragile Days, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Fragile Days, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Her, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Her, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Hitchhiking, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Hitchhiking, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Icaria, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Icaria, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Into the Mist (Video), 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Into the Mist (Video), 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Invisible Life, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Invisible Life, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Swimming Pool, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Swimming Pool, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Dialogue, 2020
    JeeYoung Lee
    Dialogue, 2020
  • JeeYoung Lee, In my heart, 2020
    JeeYoung Lee
    In my heart, 2020
  • JeeYoung Lee, Lethe, 2020
    JeeYoung Lee
    Lethe, 2020
  • JeeYoung Lee, Salvation, 2020
    JeeYoung Lee
    Salvation, 2020
  • JeeYoung Lee, Storm, 2020
    JeeYoung Lee
    Storm, 2020
  • JeeYoung Lee, Breaktime, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Breaktime, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Compulsion, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Compulsion, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Curiosity, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Curiosity, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Encounter, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Encounter, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, In My Dream, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    In My Dream, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Invisible Man, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Invisible Man, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Invisible Man, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Invisible Man, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Mirage, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Mirage, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, My heart, Your Heart, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    My heart, Your Heart, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Swamp, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Swamp, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, Under the sea, 2019
    JeeYoung Lee
    Under the sea, 2019
  • JeeYoung Lee, What Do You See?, 2013
    JeeYoung Lee
    What Do You See?, 2013
  • JeeYoung Lee, Before The Rainbow, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Before The Rainbow, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Craving, 2024
    JeeYoung Lee
    Craving, 2024
  • JeeYoung Lee, Chasing Shadows, 2023
    JeeYoung Lee
    Chasing Shadows, 2023
  • JeeYoung Lee, Erasing Memories, 2023
    JeeYoung Lee
    Erasing Memories, 2023
  • JeeYoung Lee, Wishing Tree, 2023
    JeeYoung Lee
    Wishing Tree, 2023
  • JeeYoung Lee, The Last Unflowering Tree, 2021
    JeeYoung Lee
    The Last Unflowering Tree, 2021
  • JeeYoung Lee, Secret Garden, 2018
    JeeYoung Lee
    Secret Garden, 2018
  • JeeYoung Lee, La Vie En Rose II, 2017
    JeeYoung Lee
    La Vie En Rose II, 2017
  • JeeYoung Lee, Breeze, 2016
    JeeYoung Lee
    Breeze, 2016
  • JeeYoung Lee, Desire, 2016
    JeeYoung Lee
    Desire, 2016
  • JeeYoung Lee, La Vie En Rose, 2016
    JeeYoung Lee
    La Vie En Rose, 2016
  • JeeYoung Lee, Meditation, 2016
    JeeYoung Lee
    Meditation, 2016
  • JeeYoung Lee, Loveseek, 2014
    JeeYoung Lee
    Loveseek, 2014
  • JeeYoung Lee, The Moment, 2014
    JeeYoung Lee
    The Moment, 2014
  • JeeYoung Lee, Anxiety (diptych), 2013
    JeeYoung Lee
    Anxiety (diptych), 2013
  • JeeYoung Lee, My Chemical Romance, 2013
    JeeYoung Lee
    My Chemical Romance, 2013
  • JeeYoung Lee, Nightscape, 2012
    JeeYoung Lee
    Nightscape, 2012
  • JeeYoung Lee, This Is Not Enough, 2012
    JeeYoung Lee
    This Is Not Enough, 2012
  • JeeYoung Lee, Blackbirds, 2011
    JeeYoung Lee
    Blackbirds, 2011
  • JeeYoung Lee, Broken Heart, 2011
    JeeYoung Lee
    Broken Heart, 2011
  • JeeYoung Lee, Gamer, 2011
    JeeYoung Lee
    Gamer, 2011
  • JeeYoung Lee, Last Supper, 2011
    JeeYoung Lee
    Last Supper, 2011
  • JeeYoung Lee, Monsoon Season, 2011
    JeeYoung Lee
    Monsoon Season, 2011
  • JeeYoung Lee, I'll Be Back, 2010
    JeeYoung Lee
    I'll Be Back, 2010
  • JeeYoung Lee, Nightmare, 2010
    JeeYoung Lee
    Nightmare, 2010
  • JeeYoung Lee, Panic Room, 2010
    JeeYoung Lee
    Panic Room, 2010
  • JeeYoung Lee, Treasure Hunt, 2010
    JeeYoung Lee
    Treasure Hunt, 2010
  • JeeYoung Lee, Birthday, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Birthday, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Childhood, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Childhood, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Maiden Voyage, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Maiden Voyage, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Oversleeping, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Oversleeping, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Reaching For the Star, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Reaching For the Star, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Sweet Appetite, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Sweet Appetite, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Toxic Boy, 2009
    JeeYoung Lee
    Toxic Boy, 2009
  • JeeYoung Lee, Flu, 2008
    JeeYoung Lee
    Flu, 2008
  • JeeYoung Lee, Foodchain, 2008
    JeeYoung Lee
    Foodchain, 2008
  • JeeYoung Lee, Neverending Race, 2008
    JeeYoung Lee
    Neverending Race, 2008
  • JeeYoung Lee, Raw, 2008
    JeeYoung Lee
    Raw, 2008
  • JeeYoung Lee, The Little Match Girl, 2008
    JeeYoung Lee
    The Little Match Girl, 2008
  • JeeYoung Lee, The Best Cure, 2007
    JeeYoung Lee
    The Best Cure, 2007
Video
News
Press
Exhibitions
Events