Kang Seung Lee

Artist’s Statement

I was born in South Korea and lived in the Middle East and Latin America before relocating to Los Angeles. Because of this, my work comes from the desire to challenge the narrow perspective of the biased and first-world-oriented timeline of history, and it speaks about the potential to intervene ordered systems and manifests in the form of visual marks, traces and index.

For the past few years, the primary focus of my work has been the creation of critical/cross-cultural/queer histories by researching, excavating, and appropriating images/text from public and private archives (art/artifact collections, publications, libraries, etc.).

This process allows alternative historical and personal voices, counter-narratives and strategies to emerge. It places emphasis on marginalized individual experiences and personal histories that disturb structure and order of the traditional archive and challenge singular mainstream knowledge/history.

Website: kanglee.net

Biography

Select Solo Exhibitions from 2015-2018

2018
Garden, One and J. Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2017
Untitled (la revolución es la solución!), Artpace, San Antonio, TX
Leave of absence & Absence without leave, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, CA

2015
Untitled (Artspeak?), Pitzer College Art Galleries, Claremont, CA

Select Group Exhibitions from 2012-2018

2018
Commonwealth and Council, Tina Kim Gallery/47 Canal, New York, NY

2017
Reconstitution, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA

2016
De la Tierra a la Tierra, Centro Cultural Metropoliano, Quito, Ecuador

2012
Art on Paper, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, NC

Select Community-based Artwork

2017
Untitled mural, Wall Project, Baik Art, Culver City, CA
Leave of absence, Sunset Blvd Digital Billboards, City of West Hollywood + IF Foundation, West Hollywood, CA

Select Fellowships and Awards

2018
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant

2017
International-Artist-in-Residence, Artpace, San Antonio, TX

2015
Artist-in-Residence, Pitzer College, CA

2012
Convocatoria, Centro Cultural Border, Mexico City

Education

M.F.A., 2015
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA