BIO
Eric Jiaju Lee graduated from the prestigious Hunter College, MFA Program in Studio Art. He exhibits regularly in the US and abroad, with works belonging to numerous private and corporate collections in the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, China, Philippines, Singapore and Australia. in 2009 the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group commissioned Lee to create a painting that became the official brand logo for their Las Vegas hotel. The large-scale painting graced a prominent wall of the hotel’s 23rd floor Sky Lobby, overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard. His work also belongs to several other corporate collections including Aetherium Acquisition Corp, Kaneka Corporation, China Springboard and Dixon Advisory.
Lee is the recipient of multiple awards and honors such as the AT&T/Chinese American Arts Council Achievement Award, James R. Steers Prize in Art, College Art Association Protégé Travel Grant, Therese Ralston McCabe Connor Award and an MTA Arts for Transit Finalist. He has also been awarded artist residencies and fellowships at the Newark Museum, Red Gate Artist Residency in Beijing, Creative Capital/LMCC Artists Summer Institute, and Openings Artist Residency.
Lee is frequently covered in the press such as CT Post, Twist Magazine, 944 Magazine, TimeOut NY, GQ Magazine (Taiwan), Greenwich Time, Sinovision TV, and an extensive article in the Huffington Post (to see a complete list of press click here). Lee is a professor of fine arts, an independent curator and a guest lecturer at museums and institutions in the greater New York area presenting on topics such as, Abstract Painting, Chinese Contemporary Art, Surrealist Art, the Italian Renaissance, and the International Art Market. He also has extensive gallery experience as the former Associate Director of Sorokin Gallery in Greenwich, CT where he was involved with strategic planning, marketing, operations, exhibition planning, sales, and art conservation.
From 2004 to 2008 he worked in Beijing, China in the renowned 798 Art District, where he established a part-time studio practice. Lee also maintained a full-time studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn from 2007 to 2016, where he helped to spur the growth of the area since it's early beginnings to become the vibrant arts community it is today: an epicenter of contemporary NYC arts. In recent years, Lee relocated his base of operations to Greenwich, Connecticut, where he now resides.
While Lee is best known for his work as an abstract painter, he also practices in other visual media ranging from figurative drawings to fashion/art photography and art video. Recently he has been developing a body of blockchain-based digital art known as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Lee has also been developing his skills with the use of the digital medium in 3D rendering and printing to create experimental sculpture. He is also an accomplished professional musician, composer, and music producer
With his broad skillset, Lee has a passion for collaboration across creative disciplines and has played a role in notable publications as well as in dance, theater, and dance/theater productions. He has worked in illustration, cover art, costume design, live painting, music, sound design, set design and video. To name just a few of these collaborations: Yale University Press, World Scientific, Lotus Literary Magazine, the groundbreaking dance company, The Foundry, the innovative and Bessie award-winning performance company Red Dive, the internationally acclaimed ThingsezIsee’m Dance/Theater, and the production of Dictee: bells fall a peal to sky with dance/theater phenom, Soomi Kim.
Worth mentioning, Lee finds much of his inspiration through his direct interaction with nature and the wilderness as an avid outdoorsman and rock climber.