SangBin (Co&Lee)

Biography

Co&Lee is a US-based collaborative artist duo working across installations, artist books, sculpture, and painting. Their work examines the relationship between space and the self, and the practices of care or exploitation that come with this exchange. SangBin, a member of Co&Lee, holds a BFA from the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia and an MFA Degree from the SMFA at Tufts. The duo has had solo and group exhibitions in the US, Germany, and the Philippines. They are recipients of the Hamburg Art Fellowship, the Montague Travel Grant, the Domestic Travel Grant, the Dean’s Research Award, and the Tufts Graduate Research Competition Award. 

Artist Statement

As someone who has never been a “words person,” art is the language through which I express my thoughts and emotions. My practice explores the pressures and expectations I encounter in daily life, my experiences as a Korean-American, and issues of fetishization and dehumanization. I am drawn to the theatricality tied to appearances and issues of societal entrapment, creating work that resists closure and instead invites viewers to linger in tension and uncertainty. As an artist, I find joy in technical exploration and meticulous problem-solving, making use of aquatic metaphors while examining nostalgia and fear through acrylic painting, mold-making, ceramics, and other sculptural practices.

My collaborative work with artist DBCO explores how environments affect our sense of belongingness and identity. We are interested in the tension between place and body - how one navigates where they are welcomed or exploited. For us, spaces are sites of possibilities or areas of power dynamics, with control and dehumanisation in play. Our practice is informed by the way movement has shaped us, whether it be in the form of migration or the embodiment of digital and physical spaces. Within our diasporic identities, we examine the complexity and multiplicity of our histories and identities in our attempt to understand the masking, levels of conformity, and hopes we carry. 

Website: coandlee.com

Instagram: @coandlee