SoVA Anderson Lecturer
Kang Seung Lee
Anderson Lecture – April 14, 2026
Kang Seung Lee is a multidisciplinary artist who was born in South Korea and now lives and works in Los Angeles. His work frequently engages the legacy of transnational queer histories, particularly as they intersect with art history. Lee’s work has been included in international exhibitions such as the 60th Venice Biennale (2024); Made in LA at Hammer Museum (2023); New Museum Triennial (2021); and Gwangju Biennale (2021). He also participated in documenta fifteen (2022) invited by Jatiwangi Art Factory.
Lee has had solo exhibitions and projects at MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo), São Paulo (2024); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2023); Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Gallery Hyundai, Seoul (2021); Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2021, 2017, 2016); 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica (2020); One and J. Gallery, Seoul (2018); Artpace, San Antonio (2017); Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, Los Angeles (2016); and Pitzer College Art Galleries, Claremont (2015). Selected group exhibitions have been held at Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2024); Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford (2024); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2024, 2020); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2023); de Appel, Amsterdam (2023); Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles (2023); MASS MoCA, North Adams (2021); Asia Cultural Center, Gwangju (2020); Daelim Museum, Seoul (2020); Palm Springs Art Museum (2019); PARTICIPANT INC, New York (2019); LA><ART, Los Angeles (2017); and Centro Cultural Metropolitano, Quito, Ecuador (2016)
Lee's work is in the permanent collections of Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford; Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kadist Foundation, Paris/San Francisco; Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; MASP, São Paulo; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; RISD Museum, Providence; Sunpride Foundation; among others.
Artist's Statement
My work examines themes of identity, community, and collective memory, frequently addressing the legacy of transnational queer histories, particularly as they intersect with art history.
I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and lived in the Middle East and Latin America before relocating to Los Angeles. This personal background informs my interest and desire to challenge the narrow perspective of the biased and first-world-oriented timeline of history through my practice, which speaks about the potential to intervene in ordered systems as manifested in the form of visual marks, traces, and indexes. I often research and reposition personal and public queer archives and collections, connecting distinct geographies and experiences to forge new sites of knowledge. Committed to the handcrafted and anti-monumental, I use a multidisciplinary approach, intertwining drawing, text, embroidery, video installation, and movement.
My recent projects are inspired by the lives and works of queer artists who died from AIDS such as Goh Choo San, Tseng Kwong Chi, Oh Joon-soo, Martin Wong, and José Leonilson. Within the projects, kinship and intimacy take the form of care, and I question the erasure of queer figures who came before me and who remain unseen. I believe this process allows alternative historical and personal voices, counter-narratives and strategies to emerge, and we can create a space that holds intergenerational memories and makes coexistence in multiple temporalities possible. The work ultimately embodies the resilience of queer genealogy, carried across time and space, and seeks to create a fertile ground and a constellation to illuminate visions of the future.