Biography

Jung Sun Lee is an artist born in South Korea and currently living and working in the Bay Area, California. She studied Fine Art at Seoul National University in South Korea, then learned French at the Institute Catholique De Paris and Sorbonne French Language School while staying in Paris for 2 years. Her experiences living in France sparked an interest in embracing foreign cultures and languages, which influenced her artworks. In 2010, she permanently moved to the United States and settled down in Berkeley, California. She has since lived in Georgia and Massachusetts with her family before returning to California in 2021. These changing residences and experiences of adapting to new surroundings have influenced her work, which explores her Korean-American identity as both a mother and an immigrant. She has participated in several group exhibitions since 2019 in Massachusetts until she moved to San Jose, California. In 2013, she was awarded a national juried show at Arc Gallery in San Francisco. More recently, she had a solo show titled "Modern Scenery" at Four Chicken Gallery, and one of her works was featured in a group show called "Home" at The Drawing Room San Francisco.

Artist Statement

Jung Sun Lee is an artist whose work features landscapes and urban scenes depicted through geometric shapes and figurative lines. Having lived outside of her home country, she adapts to new surroundings and cultures, interpreting them through her own visual language. Her creative process is similar to the process of translating Korean to English. Lee pays close attention to representing the spirits of the scenes she depicts, drawing from her personal memories, which she expands upon to include historical and cultural subjects. As an immigrant-mother artist, Lee shares her unique perspective and reveals stories through various media, such as acrylic, graphite, and conte. She combines modernized forms of landscapes, consisting of plane geometric shapes and patterns, with metaphorical lines used to express the spirit and natural energy found in traditional Korean painting. This combination results in a beautiful blend of traditional and modern art.