Maia Ruth Lee
Maia Ruth Lee is an American artist. Working across painting, sculpture, photography and film, Lee has crafted a visual lexicon that takes on the complexities of the self in times of dissonance and globalization.
Work
Maia Ruth Lee is represented by Tina Kim Gallery in New York and François Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles.Early life
Lee was born in Busan, South Korea, and grew up between Kathmandu and Seoul. Lee’s parents are bible translators, and spent three decades working closely with the Sherpa community in the Solukhumbu region in Nepal. Lee has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. Lee also studied at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. She spent over a decade in New York City, and has lived in recent years in Salida, Colorado.Career
From 2016 to 2020, Lee was the director at an arts-focused non-profit group in New York City.In 2018, Lee had a solo exhibition at Jack Hanley Gallery in New York, titled “Access to Tools”, which included wrought iron wall sculptures, Bondage Baggage sculptures, and a video projection titled “The Stranger”, the first segment of a three part video series.
In 2019, Lee participated in the Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, curated by Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley. She presented a work titled “Labyrinth”, a series of wrought iron glyphs and Bondage Baggage sculptures.
In 2021, Lee had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver in Colorado, titled “Language of Grief”, an exploration of language both written and oral, to capture the artist's personal experiences and also to approximate the experiences of others. Inspired and influenced by asemic writing - text that is visually seen, but which has no context - is in part a recognition of the impossibility of this effort. She presented a series of paintings, wall-based installations, works on paper, and a video by her husband Peter Sutherland.
Additionally, in 2021, Lee was the recipient of the Gold Art Prize.
In 2022, Lee participated in an exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum titled “Mountain/Time”, curated by Chrissie Iles, Anisa Jackson and Simone Krug. Lee presented a video installation titled “The Stranger”.
In 2022, Lee had a solo exhibition at François Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles, titled “Migrant Reader”, which included a large-scale banner installation, photographs, and wall works.
In 2023, Lee had a solo exhibition at Tina Kim Gallery in New York City, titled “The skin of the earth is seamless”. The exhibition, which was inspired by Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands La Frontera, included Bondage Baggage sculptures, paintings, and a video titled “The Letter”, the second segment of Lee’s three-part video series.
In 2024, Lee participated in the Great Hall Exhibition Series Spring 2024 at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts titled “Once we leave a place is it there”, curated by Fiona Yu, Malaika Newsome, Ruiqi Wang and Clarice Lee Lee presented a large-scale installation of five Bondage Baggage banners and an interactive public offering.
In 2024, Lee had a solo exhibition at François Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles, titled “hold shimmer wind”, which included Bondage Baggage sculptures, wrought iron sculptures, paintings, a rope installation, and a video titled “The Line”, the final segment to Lee’s three-part video series.
In 2024-2025, Lee participated in the 6th edition of arts triennial Prospect New Orleans, “The Future is Present The Harbinger is Home”, at the Ford Motor Plant in New Orleans curated by Miranda Lash and Ebony Patterson. Supported by Art Production Fund, her work titled, "The Conveyor", explores themes of migration and rootlessness. The installation features sculptures and plastic tote trays circulating on an airport conveyor belt, filled with imagined personal belongings of a migrant far from home, alongside a rope installation with overhanging paintings reminiscent of prayer flags.
Personal life
Lee's husband is Peter Sutherland, an artist.Lee resides in Salida, Colorado as of 2020, and they have one child together.
Solo Exhibitions
2024 hold shimmer wind, François Ghebaly Gallery, LA2024 Once we leave a place is it there, Great Hall Exhibition curated by Clarice Lee, Malaika Newsome, Fiona Yu, Ruiqi Wang, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
2023 The skin of the earth is seamless, Tina Kim Gallery, NYC
2022 Migrant Reader, François Ghebaly Gallery, LA
2021 The Language of Grief, Colorado in the Present Tense MCA Denver curated by Nora Abrams, Denver, CO
2018 Access to Tools, Jack Hanley Gallery NYC
2016 01/10/16, Eli Ping Frances Perkins Gallery, NY
Group Exhibitions
2024 threads, curated by Henri Gisler, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich2023 Revolt of the Body, curated by Simon Wu, Tina Kim Gallery
2023 Motherboy curated by Stella Bottai and Gray Wielebinski, Gio Marconi Gallery, Milan
2023 Colorado Women to Watch, a groupshow with Suchitra Mattai, Senga Nengudi, Kim Dickey, Ana Maria Hernando, Center for Visual Art, Denver
2023 Wishing Well Parker Gallery, LA
2023 Listen until you hear Organized by Fotografiska + For Freedoms, NYC
2022 Learn but the letters forme by heart,Then soon you'l gain this noble art, Adams and Ollman Gallery, Portland
2022 And Still No Rain, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto
2022 Mountain/Time curated by Chrissie Illes, Anisa Jackson and Simone Krug, Aspen Art Museum, CO
2019 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art
2019 Horology, curated by Elizabeth Jaeger and Silke Lindner-Sutti, Jack Hanley Gallery
2019 Harlem Postcards curated by Yelena Keller, Studio Museum 127, Harlem
2017 Microcosm, Roberts & Tilton Gallery, Los Angeles
2016 A Being in the world, curated by Jayson Musson, Salon 94 Gallery, NY
2016 Anthem of the Sun curated by Pali Kashi, Canada Gallery, NY
Workshops / Projects / Editions / Publications
Gaza Mutual Aid Print, published by Kingsland Printing, BK 2024Subliminal Message in Green, a print edition with Nine Orchard Hotel, Produced by Harlan + Weaver, NY 2024
Bondage Baggage Residuum, a silkscreen print published by Kingsland Printing, BK 2023
Bondage Baggage Lift, an aquatint print edition printed and produced by Harlan + Weaver 2022
Language As Storage, Picture Room, NY 2022
Helmut Lang SS22 intervention by Maia Ruth Lee, Sept 2021
Writing Through Grief, Lighthouse Writers Workshop with poet Carolina Ebeid, MCA Denver 2021
Auspicious Glyphs 2021 is a fundraising edition for Printed Matter 2021
Sign and Symbols for Healing, A workshop for Teachers, New Museum 2020
Whitney Screens The Stranger, Whitney Museum 2020
Anthology of Time, published by Peradem Press, 2019
Soft Surfaces, Harlem Postcards, Studio Museum 127, 2019
Paintings of Illustrations of Women at Work, Peradem, 2017
Jewelry design for TUZA, 2016 - 2018
ZINE TORNADO, NYABF, MoMa PS1, NY 2016
Something Extracted, Exhibition A Editions, 2016
GRAMMAR, Artist Feature, The Picture Room, NY, 2016
The Absence, 8-Ball Publications, 2016
Bondage Baggage, Pauwau publications, 2016
Auspicious Glyphs; NY Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1, 2015
The SEA issue, COLORS Magazine 2011
Imperial Valley; published with Peter Sutherland; February 2011
North Fake; published with Peter Sutherland; November 2010
Signs and Voices; director and organizer; publication and photography workshop; co-led with Peter Sutherland; Kathmandu, Nepal; May 2010
Chillzine; co-founder and editor; Seoul, Korea; 2006 – 2010