Soobin Lee

Soobin Lee is a London-based ceramic artist who is originally from South Korea. She is deeply engaged with ceramics, which serves as her research and creative field. Additionally, since 2020, she has taken on the role of editor for a magazine on ceramic art.

In 2019 Soobin gained a Master of Fine Arts degree at Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea, having gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts there in 2015.

Soobin’s work has been featured in the following exhibitions: Ceramics and Glass Work in Progress Show, Royal College of Art, London (2023); ‘Lighting the Onion Garden’, Onion Garden, London (2022); Master’s Degree Graduation Show Kookmin University. Design Gallery Seoul, South Korea (2019); ‘One of a Kind’, Korea Craft & Design Foundation Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, and ‘Foaming: Purpose and Composition’, Gallery iang, Seoul, South Korea (2018), and ‘Plantation’, Hans Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2017).

Soobin Lee’s work gently unfolds her anxieties and uncertainties. As a stranger, she seeks her own future in the skies of London. The dense, dark clouds and the faintly shining clear sky with a silver lining evoke both the worries of an unplanned future and the hope beyond.

The uncertainties and anxieties she encounters are not only the existential anxieties that are evidence of human existence but also the real issues of a young individual stepping out of her comfort zone to face the wider world as an artist.

Soobin divides her current artistic practice into two formal expressions: vessels and wall-mounted pieces. Both aspects of her work emerge from an experimental exploration of materials, as she conducts numerous tests and immerses herself in the realm of textures and colours. Through this process, she has discovered her own distinctive palette, lending her creations a unique identity.

Soobin believes that expressing anxiety and inner turmoil does not always require the explosive eruption often associated with such emotions. Instead, she calmly captures her worries about an uncertain future and her hopes for tomorrow in her painted ceramics and vessels. Drawing inspiration from the ever-changing hues of the sky, she represents its fleeting colours in ceramic materials – the most enduring medium. The repeated strokes of her knife and the layering of clay become a meditative practice, offering solace amidst the anxieties of the present.