Suhn Lee is a Los Angeles based artist with a focus in ceramics and textiles. Her work is heavily influenced by her Korean American upbringing and her culture’s obsession with image and overachievement. Her repetition-driven practice synthesizes material exploration into a process akin to a physical mantra of transmuting suffering into a reverence for the present moment. Her sculptures externalize the psychological experiences of anxiety, perfectionism and grief. Each piece is meticulously constructed from countless individual parts with an intentional disregard for time saving techniques. The slow nature of her work is, in part, an act of silent rebellion against society’s preoccupation with productivity.

Referencing traditional Korean symbols as well as fantastical characters from modern anime, Lee creates familiar yet unknowable forms to serve as quiet metaphors for death and the unknowability of what lies beyond. By straddling recognition and ambiguity, Lee hopes to draw the viewer in, inviting quiet contemplation and a moment of presence in a world overrun by fleeting attention.

Lee received a B.A. in Communications from UC San Diego and graduated Cum Laude from Southwestern Law School. She has a legal background in Intellectual Property licensing and experience in Fashion Buying and Merchandising. She has recently exhibited at Patricia Sweetow Gallery, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles; Space Ten Gallery, Hawthorne; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions’s (LACE) Art Benefit; LH Horton Jr Gallery, Stockton; and completed residencies at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. 

Lee currently teaches ceramics at Otis College of Art and Design.