Hauser & Wirth has announced its representation of South Korean artist Lee Bul. The gallery will co-represent the artist with her Seoul-based gallery BB&M. Lee was previously represented by Thaddaeus Ropac and Lehmann Maupin, which have both shown her since 2007.
Two of Lee’s works will be featured in Hauser & Wirth’s booth at Art Basel Hong Kong next week: a leather-covered fiberglass and steel sculpture Untitled (Anagram Leather #11 T.O.T.) (2003/2018) and a new diptych painting Perdu CCIX (2025). The artist’s first exhibition with the gallery will take place in New York in 2026.
Lee is renowned for her interdisciplinary practice, spanning four decades and encompassing sculpture, installation, performance, and painting. Her work often examines the impact of technology on our lives while incorporating cyborg imagery to explore themes of posthumanism and gender politics. She is perhaps best known for her “Cyborgs” and “Anagrams” series, using unconventional materials like silicone, fiberglass, and acrylic beads to imagine futuristic bodies.
“Lee is recognized as the foremost Korean artist of her generation,” said Hauser & Wirth president Marc Payot. “Combining conceptual rigor and a nuanced approach to materiality with a deep and profound humanism, her work continues to evolve in fascinating new directions. Now in the fourth decade of her career, she is seen as a pioneer by younger generations of artists who are deeply influenced by the sensibility of her early work, her iconoclastic performances, and the multi-sensory installations that expanded the formal and conceptual boundaries of visual art.”
Born in 1964 in Yeongju, South Korea, Lee graduated from Hongik University with a BFA in sculpture in 1987. She gained prominence in the 1990s, particularly with her massive installation, Majestic Splendor (1997). This work, which featured decomposing fish adorned with sequins, was showcased at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was later selected by curator Harald Szeemann for his 1999 Venice Biennale exhibition. That same year, Lee presented two installations at the Korean pavilion in Venice.
Throughout the 2000s, Lee presented solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions, including the New Museum in New York and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. Her work has been exhibited on the biennale circuit, including the Venice Biennale in 2019, the Sydney Biennale in 2016, and the Bangkok Art Biennial in 2018.
In 2024, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York commissioned Lee to design sculptures for the niches of its iconic Fifth Avenue facade. The exhibition titled “The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo” will be on display until June 10th.
