The Language of Light and Memory
Everything that exists leaves a trace, and I dedicate my artistic practice to revealing those traces through light.
To me, light is not merely illumination. It is the origin of existence, a medium through which memory is preserved, emotions are transferred, and the traces of time become visible.
My practice began with representational landscapes and still lifes, where light, memory, and traces were already central themes. In 2021, I began working under the name Jennifer Lee, introduced UV-reactive pigments into my paintings, and expanded my practice into abstraction. From that point onward, my representational and abstract works developed simultaneously along two interconnected paths.
In my figurative paintings, particularly my flower series, I explored how UV-reactive pigments could intensify color and create an almost self-luminous presence even under ordinary illumination. In my abstract works, I investigated the temperature, reflection, refraction, and scattering of light, gradually expanding these explorations into questions of time, water, memory, crystal, and disappearance.
These two paths converged in 2025 with my Crystal Flower series. The organic form of the flower merges with the abstract geometry of crystal, bringing together years of exploration into light, memory, time, and perception. Crystal becomes more than a visual motif. It becomes a vessel for memory, capable of holding the traces of time and existence.
Central to my current practice is what I describe as dual expression through different wavelengths of light. Under ordinary illumination, a painting reveals one visual and emotional reality. Under ultraviolet light, another state emerges. These are not two separate paintings, nor is one more authentic than the other. Both coexist within the same work, revealed under different conditions of observation.
This leads to a fundamental question at the heart of my practice:
If something remains invisible to us, does that mean it does not exist?
The visible layer often preserves an articulated emotional narrative, reinforced through the poems and short texts I write for individual works. The ultraviolet layer remains more open, uncertain, and plural, allowing each viewer to encounter a different reality.
The deepest origin of my artistic journey lies in the loss of one of my infant twin daughters. In grief, I turned to art as a means of healing and renewal, transforming pain and longing into color and light. Since then, painting has become a way to hold hope and sorrow, presence and absence, memory and loss within the same space.
From my earliest landscapes to the crystalline flowers of today, my practice has continued to ask the same questions:
What remains after a moment has passed?
Where does memory go when it begins to fade?
Can light preserve the traces of existence?
And how much of the world do we truly see?
Everything that exists leaves a trace.
My work follows those traces through light, preserving what can be remembered and revealing what may have always existed beyond the limits of our vision.
I invite you to step beyond the visible, into a world where light continues to write stories the eye alone cannot capture.
– Jennifer Lee
Exhibitions & Recognition
Group exhibition: Invitational Exhibition “California Life, Seoul Life” at E.K. Art Gallery, Los Angeles (2026)
Group exhibition: Invitational Exhibition “Contemporary Artists of Our Time” at M Art Center, Kyungin Museum (2026)
La Biennale di Venezia: Tanzania National Pavilion “Minor Frequencies” at Supernova, Venice (2026)
Group exhibition: Invitational Exhibition “Perspectives of Gangneung” at Cheongpung Gallery, Gangneung (2026)
Group exhibition: Invitational Exhibition “connected Perspectives in 2026: Take Off”, Gangneung Art Center (2026)
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)
Group Exhibition: “Passato e Presente: Dialogo tra Tradizione e Arte Contemporanea”, Divulgarti Group, Museo Bellini, Florence (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 Contemporary Arts Foundation (2024)
Art Fair: art3f 2024, Monaco, Paris, Luxembourg (2024)
Group exhibition: “Narrative of Freedom”, Gallery The Arte, Seoul (2024)
Solo exhibition: “Dazzlingly Beautiful”, Gallery Eun, Seoul (2024)
Art Fair: Feria De Arte, Marbella, Spain (2024)
Group Exhibition: “Window of Gangwon Painting”, Maru Art Center, Seoul (2024)
1st Place Winner, Best Art Awards 2023 (2024)
3rd Place Winner, FusionArt International Art Competition (2024)
Winner, Talent Award “6th Still Life”, TERAVARNA (2024)
“Suspended World”, Arteom Gallery / Times Square Billboard Exhibition, New York (2024)
“Passions”, Blue Space Gallery (2024)
Runner-up, “2nd Nature” Art Competition, TERAVARNA (2024)
Best Asian Artist, “Holy Art Show”, Holy Art Gallery (2024)
“Winter is Coming” & “The Sky Above”, Exhibizone (2024)
“I See You”, Gallerium (2024)
Artist of the Month, ArtJobs (2023)
Talent Award, “7th Flower”, TERAVARNA (2023)
“Art Shopping 2023”, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris (2023)
Winner, “Get Control” Billboard Exhibition Contest, New York (2023)
“Night Art Fair”, Songshan Culture Park, Taipei (2023)
Solo Exhibition: “Traces of Light II”, Art Gallery Road (2023)
Invitational Artist, Shinsaimdang Art Competition, Gangneung Art Center (2022)
“Sea Breeze” Exchange Exhibition, Mokpo Cultural and Arts Center (2022)
Gangwon Art Association Exhibition, Gangneung Art Center (2022)
Solo Exhibition: “Traces of Light”, Gangneung Art Center (2022)
Collaboration: Virtual Music Exhibition with Margin Alexander, New York (2022)
“Empty Space”, Guseulsam Art Museum (2021)
Exchange Exhibition, Gangneung–Mokpo (2021)
Solo Exhibition: “Longing is Dyed with Colors”, Gangneung Art Center (2021)
Selected Artist, “Art Gangneung 21” (2021)
Art Instructor (2011–2015)
Director, Cezanne Art School Academy (2002–2007)
Education: B.A. Industrial Design, Gangwon National University (1999)
Qualified Design Teacher, Art Psychotherapist, Reading Tutor