Gowoon Lee’s paintings explore the fetishization of innocence developed by the culture industry in cartoons such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Tom & Jerry and Mickey Mouse. Stills from television shows Lee watched as a young child are cropped at the moment of recognition. Lee defamiliarizes the characters through uncanny compositions which highlight the commodified aesthetic of cuteness that familiar television shows have passively ingrained in the collective memory.

Gowoon Lee (b. 1991 in Daegu, South Korea) lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Education

She  studied at The University of Auckland, Auckland and graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions include Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York (2025 upcoming); Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich (2024); Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York (2023); Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York; JVDW, Düsseldorf (both 2022).

Lee’s work has been included in group exhibitions at BRAUNSFELDER, Cologne (2025); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf (2024); and Basel Social Club, Meredith Rosen Gallery, Basel (2023).

Collections

Gowoon Lee’s work is part of public collections including the Rubell Museum, Miami.

Catharine Czudej and Gowoon Lee explore nostalgia at Meredith Rosen Gallery
stir world, Manu Sharma, 2023