Jung Won Lee

Jung Won’s practice is grounded in the idea that humans resemble objects and vice versa: they are beloved, functioning, fulfilling, malfunctioning, fading, and self-alienating, yet we still desire to contribute to and be a part of what we cherish. Drawing inspiration from urban spaces designed for productivity, Jung Won captures poetic moments in the mundane, such as overlooked street objects and anonymous interactions among strangers. Working with industrial materials, she primarily creates site-responsive sculptures, installations, and drawings. By employing ambiguity, her work questions the relationship between functionality and vulnerability of beings. Patterns, often embodiments of efficiency, transform into motifs of ritual in her practice, manifesting care in her practice.

Jung Won Lee (b. Seoul, Korea) is a sculptor currently based in Brooklyn and Seoul. She celebrates the poetics of vulnerability by creating ambiguous, unreliable objects. Primarily working in sculpture, installation and drawing, her practice aims to build structures for care. Jung Won holds a BFA in General Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a BA in Media Studies and Korean Language and Literature from Ewha Womans University. Her previous exhibitions include Current Space, Gateway Gallery, Middendorf Gallery, and Sheila & Richard Riggs Gallery in Baltimore, MD. She loves to observe the corners of spaces and one of her daily rituals is to look up at the sky.