The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) presents Suhn Lee: Memento Mori, an exhibition highlighting the work of Los Angeles-based artist Suhn Lee. Curated by arts associate, Samantha Alexis Manuel, with LAMAG curator, Hugo Cervantes. Memento Mori opens on Thursday, March 6, 2025, to Sunday, May 18, 2025, the public is welcome to attend the opening reception on Sunday, March 9, 2025, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Memento Mori marks the first institutional exhibition by the Los Angeles-based artist Suhn Lee, whose practice synthesizes ceramics and textiles. Lee is drawn to the materials’ meditative and process-driven nature; sculptures externalize the psychological experiences of anxiety, perfectionism, and grief. Informed by her Korean American heritage, the artist presents a series of sculptures she describes as “creatures”: small to medium-sized ceramics armored objects with beadwork, sequins, and fabric. The abstracted geometric forms are inspired by ten symbols such as turtles, clouds, and mushrooms, to name a few, that signify longevity and prosperity derived from various Asian cultures.
Lee’s repetition-driven practice of stitching and adhering or shaping and firing clay becomes akin to a physical mantra of transmuting pain whose effects cultivate reverence for the mundane. “Remember you must die,” the dialectical expression behind the Latin phrase and exhibition title, mirrors Lee’s artistic practice of indexing life’s challenges as relics or tokens akin to evidence of a life well lived.
As a part of the gallery’s 70th anniversary celebration, Memento Mori emerged from the latest iteration of LAMAG’s historic Open Call initiative, Open Call: Apophenia (December 9, 2023, to March 16, 2024). The widely popular and reoccurring open-call format culminated in an exhibition featuring works by 350 artists living and/or working in Southern California. Founded as the All City Outdoor Festival in 1950 that dispersed throughout nine Los Angeles city parks, the festival evolved into Open Call. The initiative was a non-juried opportunity for young people, students, and professional and non-professional artists to exhibit their artwork side by side at LAMAG—celebrating the diversity and creativity of Los Angeles’s artistic community.
Open Call: Apophenia introduced an exciting new opportunity. Rather than awarding cash prizes or honorable mentions, the LAMAG selected two artists to develop solo exhibitions in the project space. Curator Hugo Cervantes selected Suhn Lee, and curator Nancy Meyer selected Danila Cervantes for this honor, respectively.
Based on Lee’s submission, Hugo Cervantes reflected, “I Don’t Go to Sleep to Dream, a ceramic sculpture whose power draws from a combination of its strict use of the color white enhancing the sculpture’s embedded repeated circle pattern doubling as a critique of perfectionism. Her technical and conceptual use of ceramics stood out during the Open Call: Apophenia exhibition as an artist whose talent would greatly benefit from this solo project opportunity.”
About the Artist
Suhn Lee (b. 1983) is a Los Angeles-based artist who focuses on ceramics and textiles. Her work is heavily influenced by her Korean American upbringing and explores her culture’s obsession with image and overachievement. At the core of her practice is a psychological examination of time, anxiety, and self-worth in conjunction with a reverence for the present moment. The slow nature of her work is partly an act of silent rebellion against society’s preoccupation with productivity, efficiency, and status.
She received a B.A. in Communications from UC San Diego and graduated Cum Laude from Southwestern Law School. She has a legal background in Intellectual Property licensing and experience in Fashion Buying and Merchandising. She has recently exhibited at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Space Ten Gallery, Hawthorne; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions’s (LACE) Art Benefit; LH Horton Jr Gallery, Stockton; and completed residencies at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Suhn Lee currently teaches ceramics at Otis College of Art and Design.
About the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery
The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery’s (LAMAG) mission is to be responsive to the human experience. Established in 1954, LAMAG is the longest running institution in Los Angeles devoted solely to exhibiting art. The gallery focuses on artists from Los Angeles – in particular underrepresented artists whose work may not otherwise have found a platform. Our exhibitions, educational and public programs aim to inspire conversation about the contemporary issues and ideas that resonate most with the people of Los Angeles.
Many local artists who have exhibited at the gallery have gone on to become fixtures of the national and international art world, including Carlos Almaraz, Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, Mark Bradford, Vija Celmins, Harry Gamboa Jr., David Hammons, Barbara Kruger, Kerry James Marshall, Senga Nengudi, Catherine Opie, Sandy Rodriguez, Ed Ruscha, and Bruce and Norman Yonemoto. Today, the gallery continues to build on this rich legacy, operating as a site of discovery for outstanding work by the city’s most exciting artists, from recent graduates to practitioners with years of experience.
About the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA)
As a leading, progressive arts and cultural agency, DCA empowers Los Angeles’ vibrant communities by supporting and providing access to quality visual, literary, musical, performing, and educational arts programming; managing vital cultural centers; preserving historic sites; creating public art; and funding services provided by arts organizations and individual artists.
Formed in 1925, DCA promotes arts and culture as a way to ignite a powerful dialogue, engage LA’s residents and visitors, and ensure LA’s varied cultures are recognized, acknowledged, and experienced. DCA’s mission is to strengthen the quality of life in Los Angeles by stimulating and supporting arts and cultural activities, ensuring public access to the arts for residents and visitors alike.
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