Born in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, Lee Shang Hwa began to pursue his artistic career in 2004 in the School of Performing Arts in Seoul, South Korea. The artist relocated to Beijing in 2008 to develop his practice studying Oil Painting in the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, China under Professor Ma Xiaoteng at Studio 2. Lee Shang Hwa has also obtained his Master’s degree from the CAFA in 2018.

Lee’s diversified oeuvre includes, among many others, works that incorporate household items and their hyper-realistic renderings in oil on canvas, landscapes with surrealistically alienated scenes, meticulous color dots arrangements on jigsaw puzzle-shaped canvases, miniature watercolor drawings with misleading textual denominations. Lee’s multifaceted artistic language challenges the viewer’s habitual perception while scrutinizing reality and means of its representation. Often his work is a pictorial realization of a young artist’s philosophical reflections on life.

Lee Shang Hwa’s works have been exhibited in China and Korea. Notable exhibitions include group shows “Private Talent” (Des Art Gallery, Beijing), “Graduation Song” (Fangyuan Art Museum, 798, Beijing), and “Korea-China Young Artists Group Exhibition” (Jeju Art Exhibition Hall, South Korea). His upcoming exhibition “Through the Maze: Navigating One Artist’s Path” at Art+ Shanghai Gallery in March 2019 marks the first solo show in his artistic career.