Maia Ruth Lee

Working across painting, sculpture, photography and film, Maia Ruth Lee has crafted an elegant visual lexicon that takes on the complexities of the self in times of dissonance and globalization. Lee was born in Busan, South Korea, grew up in Kathmandu and Seoul, spent over a decade in New York City, and has lived in recent years in Salida, Colorado. Migration lies at the core of her experience. In her practice, Lee brings this cross-border perspective to bear in works that often evoke wayfinding in the form of maps, atlases, and banners. An underlying interest in language, translation, symbols, and signs runs throughout her work. The body, too, is an enduring concern for Lee, whose bound baggage and textile works metaphorically visualize the accumulations and contours of a life. Navigating universal phenomena like loss and change, Lee’s tender, expansive practice embodies journeying itself, giving form to migrations of people, tongues, and ideas.

Maia Ruth Lee (b. 1983 Busan, South Korea) lives and works in Salida, Colorado. Recent solo exhibitions include François Ghebaly, Los Angeles (2024, 2022); Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (2024); Tina Kim Gallery, New York (2023) and Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver (2021). Lee participated in numerous group exhibitions including Prospect.6, New Orleans (2024); Center for Visual Arts, Denver (2023); Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2022); Whitney Biennial, New York (2019) and Studio Museum 127, New York (2019).