Everything that exists leaves a trace, and Jennifer Lee dedicates her artistic practice to revealing those traces through light. To her, light is not simply illumination nor a tool for visibility – it is the origin of existence itself, the medium through which memory is preserved and emotions are transferred. Light becomes the place where time, matter, and life converge.

Lee is deeply influenced by Gerhard Richter’s exploration of perception and ambiguity. Yet while Richter often erased or obscured traces – delaying meaning – Lee takes the opposite approach: she preserves and articulates the moment’s emotional truth. Across multiple genres and techniques, she continues a single narrative thread. Through short writings attached to each piece, she records the human-visible story of each artwork – ensuring that the memory does not dissolve with time. Writing becomes an extension of the painting, a method to sustain storytelling within the visible spectrum.

But her work does not remain solely in the visible realm. By incorporating UV-reactive pigments into her paintings, Lee hides a second state of reality beneath the surface – one that only emerges when illuminated by ultraviolet light. These hidden forms reference the visual languages of insects and birds, biological communication systems invisible to humans, and emotional fragments lingering in the cracks of time.

In this UV world, the narrative is intentionally left unfixed. It is a realm of diversity, uncertainty, and openness – where meaning is not predetermined but discovered by each viewer. While the visible layer delivers confirmed emotional memory, the invisible layer resists singular interpretation and remains alive with potential.

Lee’s artistic journey began during the most devastating moment of her life – the loss of one of her newborn twin daughters. In grief, she turned to art as a means of healing and renewal, transforming pain and longing into color and light. Since then, painting has become her form of therapy, a way to compress both hope and sorrow into each work.

Educated in Industrial Design and certified in art psychotherapy and practical design teaching, she has long witnessed the healing power of art through her years of children’s art education. Now working as a full-time artist, she expands her exploration of light into immersive environments that shift with perception and evolve with the viewer’s presence.

Ultimately, Jennifer Lee’s art invites viewers into a space where some stories are spoken, while others remain quietly alive beneath ultraviolet wavelengths – truths that are layered, plural, and perpetually unfolding.

Her work asks a simple yet profound question:

How much of the world do we truly see?

And it beckons us to step beyond the visible, where light continues writing stories the eye alone cannot capture.

Lee creates art based on personal inspiration. While her process constantly evolves, she refuses to confine herself to a single genre. Instead, she embraces freedom and experimentation, allowing each work to carry its own truth – shaped by light, memory, and emotion.

Jennifer Lee

• Group exhibition: Invitational Exhibition at Shin Saimdang Art Competition, Gangneung Art Center (2025)
• Biennale: XV Florence Biennale at Fortezza da Basso, Firenze (2025)
• Group exhibition: Gangneung Art Association Exhibition at Gangneung Art Center, Gangneung (2025)
• Group exhibition: Gangwon Art Association Exhibition at Taebaek Culture & Arts Center, Taebaek (2025)
• Group exhibition: “Identity”, K-art International & MUSA International, Insa Art Center, Seoul (2025).
• Featured in Art New York Magazine and a Special personal art catalog, Selected by Beka museum, New York (2025).
• Honorable Mention in the inaugural international juried art competition Tartget Prize (2025).
• Group exhibition: “Untitled”, Siwon Art Gallery, M Art Center, Seoul (2025).
• Group exhibition: Invitational Exhibition “Dynamic Reality”, ArteWith Gallery, Seoul (2025).
• Art Fair. ROMA Arte in Nuvola, Rome(2024).
• Winner of the Art Poetry Book Competition, hosted by Barbagelata Comtemporary Arts Foundation (2024).
• Art Fair: art3f 2024, Monaco, Paris, Luxembourg(2024).
• Group exhibition: 2024 Invitational Exhibition “Narrative of Freedom”, Gallery The Arte, Seoul (2024).
• Solo exhibition: 2024 Gangwon Gallery Selected Solo Exhibition “Dazzlingly Beautiful”, Gallery Eun, Seoul (2024).
• Art Fair: Feria De Arte 2024, Marbella, Spain(2024).
• Group Exhibition: 2024 Gangwon Gallery Planning Inaugural Exhibition “Window of Gangwon Painting”, Maru Art Center, Seoul(2024).
• 1st Place Winner of Best Art Awards 2023 International Art Competition (2024).
• 3rd Place Winner of FusionArt’s International Art Competition (2024).
• Winner of the Talent Award at the “6th STILL LIFE“ International Art Competition, hosted by TERAVARNA(2024).
• Group Exhibition: “Suspended World” at Arteom Gallery, 3D on – www.artsteps.com & Billboard Exhibition in Times Square in New York (2024).
• Group Exhibition: “Passions” at Blue Space Gallery – www.bluespacegallery.com (2024).
• Winner of “Runner-up Prize Award” In The “2nd Nature” art competition, hosted by TERAVARNA(2024).
• Selected as Best Asian Artist at “Holy Art Show” hosted by Holy Art Gallery (2024).
• Group Exhibitions: “Winter is coming” & “The Sky Above” at Exhibizone – www.exhibizone.com (2024).
• Group Exhibition: “I See You” at Gallerium – www.gallerium.art (2024).
• Winner of “Artist Of The Month” Nov 2023, hosted by Artjobs(2023).
• Winner of the Talent Award at the ‘7th FLOWER” International Art Competition, hosted by TERAVARNA(2023).
• Art Fair: “Art Shopping 2023” Carrousel Louvre in Paris (2023).
• Winner of the “Get Control” Billboard Exhibition Contest in Times Square, New York, hosted by Adler (2023).
• Art Fair: “Night Art Fair” at Songshan Culture Park in Taipei (2023).
• Solo Exhibition: “Traces of Light II” at Art Gallery Road (2023).
• Recommended Artist Exhibition for the Shinsaimdang Art Competition at Gangneung Art Center (2022).
• Exchange Exhibition: Gangneung to Mokpo Sea Breeze Exhibition at Mokpo Cultural and Arts Center (2022).
• Group Exhibition: Gangwon Art Association Exhibition at Gangneung Art Center (2022).
• Solo Exhibition: “Traces of Light” at Gangneung Art Center (2022).
• Collaboration: Virtual Music Exhibition with Margin Alexander in New York (Live-streamed in HD) (2022).
• Group Exhibition: “Empty Space” at Guseulsam Art Museum (2021).
• Exchange Exhibition: Gangneung to Mokpo Sea Breeze Exhibition at Gangneung Art Center (2021).
• Solo Exhibition: “Longing is Dyed with Colors” at Gangneung Art Center (2021).
• Selected Artist for the 1st Art Gangneung 21 at Gangneung Art Center (2021).
• Elementary School After-School Art Teacher (2011-2015).
• Director of the Cezanne Art School Academy (2002-2007).

Graduated from the Industrial Design Department of Gangwon National University (1999). Qualified as a design practical teacher, art psychotherapist, and reading tutor.