Charles Lee

Charles Lee is a versatile artist known for his ability to move seamlessly between pencil-drawn portraits, tranquil landscapes, arresting abstracts, and serene musicians. Growing up in Seoul, Korea, Lee showed an affinity for art at age seven, though his father disapproved and would destroy his awards. Despite these hardships, Lee earned a gold medal in an international competition during high school and went on to major in art at university, holding his first show at age twenty-three.
Lee gained a following in the 1970s while exhibiting in group shows in Hong Kong and Tokyo, and presented his second solo exhibition at the Tae Yoon and Man Kang galleries in Seoul. His popularity soared in the 1980s when many of his works were introduced to the United States while he was employed at the Gaius Art Studio. Lee arrived in the United States in 1991 and worked with a Miami wholesaler of fine art before eventually settling in Florida with his wife and two children.
Today, Lee paints primarily in three distinct styles: a classical representational style with notes of romanticism, a contemporary naïve style noted for its simplicity and colorful planes harkening to Cubism, and a purely abstract style. He embraces oils, watercolors, and acrylics, often painting with a bright palette including gold foil. His low-relief mixed media compositions are accomplished through the use of Gesso, giving his artwork the illusion of emerging from the canvas. Lee is represented by Park West Gallery.