Lee Ko

January 2024’s Featured Artist

Artist Bio:

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1976. Lee earned her initial BFA and MFA degrees in Seoul, South Korea. Later, she embarked on a passionate journey to study across the ocean at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she earned her second MFA. Her education and experience from the different environments in both East and
West greatly impacted her art and her life in various ways, and she tries to introduce her aesthetic value across cultures. She currently resides in Waxhaw, NC, with her husband and four children.

Artist Statement:

Lee’s artistic Journey evolved by working with various mediums, including Metal, Clay, and reclaimed materials.
She spreads small units on the panel/wall in a rhythmical variation to complete her wall sculptures.
In her recent body of work, she found various materials sourced from her daily life, such as glass bottles, sauce jars, and electrical cords. Combining these elements with clay pieces, she constructs a composition of small individual
components that culminate in a unified whole on the wall, like a quilt. Through her art, Lee tries to tell us the power of ordinary things when they come together and how they can become part of something greater and support each other as a unit in a whole. One of her works, “A Way Coming Back,” is about the returning beauty of reclaimed materials in her kitchen while she finds a second chance of the material, just like she rebooted herself as an artist after a long parenting break. This is the first official chance to present the original work to the public when the images of it were displayed through ArtPop Street Gallery’s 2023 Billboards and digital screens around the world.