Kakyoung Lee (she/her) is a Korean-born, Brooklyn-based artist with a background in printmaking. Her practice spans printmaking, animation, and installation, with interdisciplinary engagement in print and time-based work at the core of her studio practice.
Holding a BFA/MFA from Hong-Ik University and an MFA from SUNY-Purchase College, NY, Lee has exhibited in numerous exhibitions both locally and internationally, including at the Drawing Center, New York; Hofstra University, Hempstead; Kunsthalle Bremen, DE; Mass MOCA, North Adams; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Banja Luka, Bosnia; Museum Folkwang, Essen, DE; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Oqbo, Berlin, DE; Queens Museum, New York; and Seoul Arts Center, Korea.
She has participated in several artist residency programs, including the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, Omi, ISCP, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and Brandywine Workshop where she was able to focus on experimenting with time intensive print and animation projects. Lee has received numerous grants and awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, the American Academy of Arts and Letter Purchase Award, the NYFA Fellowship, the Ahl Foundation grant, and the KAFA Award.
Lee’s works have been featured in the Library of Congress blog, Art in Paper, Hyperallergic, Printeresting.com, and in many magazines internationally. Her prints and animations are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Asia Society Museum, New York; the McNay Art Museum, TX; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; the Jeju 4.3 Memorial in Jeju, Korea; among others.
My creative research focuses on experimental installations and animations using sequential drawings and print media. Through interdisciplinary engagement, I explore the hidden layers within mundane images in my surroundings.
By capturing video clips and photographs of people and places around me, I delve into the concept of invisible everydayness and its repetitive movement. Being a first-generation Korean American immigrant, I often grapple with feelings of being discredited and marginalized within my environmental context. This sense of invisibility is reflected in my stop-motion animations and installations, where human figures are periodically erased, re-drawn, and erased again. In the printing process, each image overlaps the previous one beneath the plate, creating a coexistence of the past and present on screen.
During the pandemic, I deepened my social engagement with BIPOC communities through print animation projects. The “Passersby Series” presents surveillance-based imagery addressing hate crimes, while the “Smoke Series” reflects on recent natural disasters such as earthquakes and wildfires. These incidents - whether hate crimes or natural catastrophes - stem from unprecedented disasters that have become an integral part of our surroundings, demanding our attention and response.
I navigate the intricate interplay surrounding these unprecedented circumstances by exploring diverse perspectives. I continue to investigate non-historical layers across different geographical and cultural environments, reflecting on my passage as a sojourner. Through this exploration, my aim is not only to capture the sense of personal invisibility but also to unveil the shared narratives that connect us all.