李昇愛

LEE Seung Ae (b. 1979) explores intangible elements such as intimate emotions, feelings, beliefs, and spirit—those that cannot be fully captured within one's field of vision—as the main themes of her work. With a deep interest in intangible elements that exist between the external and internal worlds such as energy, feelings, light, and sound, she creates a new dimension of time and space through highly-detailed, largescale drawings, animations, murals, and installations. LEE expresses the fateful agony of being situated between imagination and reality in her practice. In an attempt to transcend the physical limitation of pencil drawings, the artist developed her own unique style by continually experimenting with different ways of visualizing the intangible realm. This has resulted in works that embody not only warmth and familiarity but also discomfort and strangeness—revealing a sense of ambivalence.

 

 LEE Seung Ae was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1979. She received her MFA at Royal College of Art, London, UK in 2016 and currently works across London and Seoul. Attracting public attention through her unique “Monster” drawing series, the artist has held solo exhibitions at various institutions such as ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2023; 2012), Chapter II (Seoul, Korea, 2020), Amado Art Space (Seoul, Korea, 2018), De Art Center (Beijing, China, 2018), Korean Cultural Center (London, UK, 2018), Marlborough Fine Art (London, UK, 2017) in 2017, Doosan Gallery (Seoul, Korea, 2011), and more. She participated in the 14th Gwangju Biennale in 2023. and also group exhibitions held at ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN (Cheonan, Korea, 2020), Chapter II (Seoul, Korea, 2019), Palazzon Ca’Zanardi (Venice, Italy, 2017), Gulbenkian Gallery (London, UK, 2016) and Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE) in 2016. LEE was awarded the Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize (London, UK) in 2016 and GUCCI Young Artist Grant (Seoul, Korea) in 2013.