DONGI LEE
Dongi Lee was born in Seoul in 1967 and achieved MFA from Western painting department of the Hongik University, College of Fine Arts. Lee started with the first solo exhibition at Gallery ON in South Korea, which initially introduced his remarkable character “Atomaus” in 1993, and consecutively had the first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2002. Furthermore, his one-man show was held in Beijing in 2007, and in Amsterdam and Berlin in 2008. In September 2020 Lee held a large-scale solo exhibition at NYB Gallery in Kirkland, Washington, USA. He was evaluated as a first-generation pop artist in South Korea, and his representative works were named as “Bubbles”, “Flower Garden”, and “Virtual Insanity”. Such works are being collected by many museums in South Korea and in China and in Taiwan at the head of Leeum in Seoul.
Lee has established the original genre within socially participatory pop art that crosses the boundary between high and low culture by borrowing and blending various elements from advertising, internet, classics, modernism painting, and abstract art.
While Lee frequently uses flat colors and graphical images in the trendy theme between mass media and pop culture, his works always include complex elements that make up society. He captures the ever-changing aspects of the times and expresses them with pop taste in an exquisite balance.
WORKS
BIOGRAPHY
1967 Born in Seoul 1990 B.F.A., Painting, Hongik University 1995 M.F.A., Painting, Hongik University
PAST EXHIBITIONS
1993 First Solo Exhibition at Gallery On in Seoul, Korea
2001 “The Adventures of Atomaus” at Gallery Dong Dong in Seoul, Korea
2002 Solo Exhibition at Kobayashi Gallery in Tokyo, Japan
2003 “Crash” at IImin Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea
2006 “Smoking” at One and J Gallery in Seoul, Korea
2007 “Atomaus” at Gallery Mook in Beijing, China
2008 “Bubbles” at Willem Kerseboom Gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands
2008 Dongi Lee Solo Exhibition at Keumsan Gallery in Tokyo, Japah
2008 “Bubbles” at Gallery 2 in Seoul, Korea
2008 “Double Vision” at Gallery 2 in Seoul, Korea
2009 “Double Vision” at Galerie Michael Schultz in Berlin, Germany
2010 “Bittersweet” at Gallery 2 in Seoul, Korea
2011 “Role Playing Game”at Lotte Gallery in Seoul, Korea
2012 “Garden of Uncertainty” at Gallery 2 in Seoul, Korea
2013 “Don’t Look Back in Anger” at Songwon Art Center in Seoul, Korea
2014 “Zero Gravity” at GALLERY HYUNDAI in Seoul, Korea
2016 “Abyss” at Gallery 2 in Seoul, Korea
2017 “Dongi Lee Unplugged” at Gallery 2, Jungsun Nongwon in Jeju, Korea
2017 “Dongi Lee” at CL Art in Seoul, Korea
2018 “Lee Dongi: 2015-2018” at PIBI Gallery in Seoul, Korea
2018 “Words” at Gallery 2 in Seoul, Korea
2018 “Hashtag” at Handok Museum of Medicine and Pharmacy in Eumsung, Korea
2019 “Lee Dongi, 1993-2014: Back to the future” at PIBI Gallery in Seoul, Korea
2019 “Welcome to My World” at Banyan Tree Club & Spa in Seoul, Korea
2020 “ATOMAUS” at NYB Gallery in Kirkland, WA, USA
2020 Group Show at Art TNZ at Sho+1 booth in Tokyo, Japan
2021 “Dongi Lee : Pentagon” at PIBI Gallery in Seoul, Korea
2021 Group Show at Art Busan 2022 at PIBI Gallery booth in Busan, Korea
2021 Group Show at Art Fair Tokyo 2021 at Sho+1 booth in Tokyo, Japan
2021 “Redux Atomaus” at Sho+1 in Tokyo, Japan
2022 Group Show at Art Fair Tokyo 2022 at Sho+1 booth in Tokyo, Japan
2022 “Uncontrollable” at Space ISU in Seoul, Korea
2022 “The Moments We Encounter” Group Show at Suwon Museum of Art in Suwon, Korea
2022 “Paik Nam June Effect” Group Show at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Korea
2023 “Room of Inspiration”, Group Show at Gallery Royal in Seoul, Korea
2023 Group Show at AFAF2023 at Sho+1 booth in Fukuoka, Japan
2023 “《Half/Half》Dongi Lee/Kids”, Participatory exhibition at Ulsan Art Museum/Gallery 3 in Ulsan, Korea
2023 “《2023 Title Match》Dongi Lee vs. Sangwoo Kang” at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea
2024 “Multiplied Atomaus +” at Sho+1 in Tokyo, Japan
2024 “The Roses of Sharon Have Blossomed” Group Show at Cheonan Museum of Art, Cheonan, Korea
2024 “The Dots II” Group Show at gallery NoW in Seoul
2024 Seattle Art Fair 2024, NYB Gallery, Seattle
2024 “Move, Sound, Image” Group Show at Ground Seoul in Seoul
2024 “In Synchrony” Group Show at333 Gallery in Seoul
2025 Art Palm Beach + Contemporary 2025, NYB Gallery in Florida, USA
2025 ”The Second Skin” Group Show at ONE AND J. Gallery in Seoul
