Kang Seung Lee is a multidisciplinary artist born in South Korea now living and working in Los Angeles. His work frequently engages the legacy of transnational queer histories, particularly as they intersect with art history. Lee's work is in the collections of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, among others.
Recent projects include exhibitions at the New Museum Triennial, New York; 13th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju; MASS MoCA, North Adams; Gallery Hyundai, Seoul; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs; Participant Inc, New York; Artpace, San Antonio; and Documenta 15 as part of Jatiwangyi Art Factory’s Terracotta Embassy in Kassel, Germany.
He is a recipient of LACMA x Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives, 18th Street Arts Center Artist Lab Residency, California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists, Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant, and Artpace San Antonio International Artist-in-Residence program.
During his Fellowship at MacDowell in 2022, Lee worked on a new project, “The Heart of a Hand.” The project pays tribute to Goh Choo San (1948-1987), an internationally renowned Singaporean-born choreographer, who died of an AIDS-related illness at 39 years old in 1987. Goh performed and choreographed for prominent ballet companies throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. However, his legacy remains largely absent from queer cultural and dance histories. Lee also created multiple embroidery works based on research materials he found during a recent trip to Singapore, including audiovisual and sound recordings related to Goh Choo San’s life and work at National Archives in Singapore in addition to oral history interviews and photographs. He plans to show the works at Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles, in April 2023, as part of his solo exhibition.
Portrait by Ruben Diaz
