Ji Young Lee
Dawn Swimmers , 2026
mixed media
40 x 40 inches
$ 3,000
C-lective Curator’s Cut:
Inspired by her early morning swims in the San Francisco Bay, Ji’s Dawn Swimmers captures the sense of connection, renewal, and joy found in beginning the day surrounded by water and community. Layers of vibrant hot pinks, teals, and playful swirling forms ripple across the canvas, transforming the rhythm of the tide and the energy of shared experiences into an explosion of color and movement. With its whimsical composition and luminous palette, the work evokes the quiet magic of sunrise, the exhilaration of a refreshing swim, and the simple happiness found in moments of togetherness. Dawn Swimmers invites us to embrace the beauty of everyday rituals and the unexpected joy they bring.
Ji Young Lee
We Love Ji. She is a Seoul-born multidisciplinary artist and author based in San Francisco, CA. Her work explores transformation, memory, migration, and the relationship between the human body and the natural world through abstract painting, drawing, printmaking, and narrative storytelling, often focusing on her coming-of-age journey in South Korea. Through both abstraction and narrative, her work seeks to bridge personal memory, cultural heritage, and universal experiences of change and belonging.
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Bachelor of Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Trained at the Atelier School of Classical Realism in Oakland, CA
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Current Artist-in-Residence at ARTogether (2026–2027)
Studio Artist Resident at Root Division (2024–2026)
"Rather than imposing an image, I allow it to reveal itself over time. The process becomes an archaeology of light — an ongoing cycle of dissolution, negotiation, and transformation."
Ji has a daily ritual: entering the cold waters of the San Francisco Bay before dawn and emerging with the sunrise. That practice of dissolution and return has become the animating force of her work, translating the physical sensation of water into layered, luminous paintings that blur the boundaries between self and environment, body and landscape. Drawing on years of open water swimming and a deeply intuitive studio process, she approaches the canvas the way she moves through water — adding, erasing, and resurfacing.
Interviews in progress, please check back soon!