Artist Statement

My work attempts to evoke the different moments of our competitive society; pieces that express the spectrum of competition from hiding away to preparing for a fight. Animals have a competitive instinct to survive, which can seem isolating and solitary. But within their herd, there is companionship and safety with others. I use animals as a metaphor for the desire and fear in life; a rooster symbolizes a winner or a loser, but one that can anticipate the demands of the fight. The roosters are a disguise to hide my own fear along with anticipation to be the last one standing. The ability to be successful is not dependent on the number of triumphs that you have, but rather your willingness to get up and continue the struggle after a defeat.

Bio:

Jun Lee (Washington, DC) is a printmaker who uses animals as symbols of the emotions surrounding the competition in our daily lives. Lee was awarded an Arts and Humanities Fellowship and DC Art Bank grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She has completed numerous artist residencies and fellowships and her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including: West Virginia University (WV), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (MD), American University Museum (DC), Highpoint Center for Printmaking (MN), Insa Art Center (Seoul, South Korea), Daimler Financial Services Atrium (Berlin, Germany). Lee received her MFA in Print Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art (MI) and her BFA in Illustration, and a Post Baccalaureate in Printmaking from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MN).