Ji Young Lee
Mystic Remembrance, 2008
mixed media
48 x 48 inches
$2,500
C-lective Curator’s Cut:
Ji Young Lee’s Mystic Remembrance invites us into an underwater world where organic forms meet the structures that shape our everyday lives. Created with acrylic and marble dust, the work’s textured surface recalls coral formations and the shifting landscapes of the sea floor, while a subtle grid woven throughout evokes pool tiles, architectural foundations, and the patterns that create spaces for us to gather. Rich blues and serene teals surround us like deep water, grounded by rust tones that connect us to the earth beneath. Balancing fluidity and structure, this piece reflects the ways both nature and human-made environments shape our sense of belonging, offering a space to explore the connections between ourselves, our surroundings, and the communities we build.
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!