Texas-based sculptor Stephen Lee uses steel and mortar as his primary materials because “they let me build intuitively, edit freely and avoid rigidity.”
“My sculptures mirror how I see the world: layers of interwoven tensions that make coexistence fragile yet just compatible enough to adapt and keep moving,” said Lee.
Artist: Born in 1967 in Seoul, Korea, Lee immigrated as a teenager with his family to the United States in 1981 and attended high school and college in Los Angeles, CA.
Lee first studied art with emphasis in sculpture at Occidental College, where he graduated with a BA in art. He then earned a BS in industrial design at California State University, Long Beach.
After college, Lee went on to have a 20-plus year career in a variety of corporate settings, such as KitchenAid, JC Penney and Samsung, designing consumer products and retail merchandising spaces.
In 2020, during the pandemic shutdown, Lee was laid off from Samsung. He decided to leave the corporate world and focus on developing his own brands and products.
In 2021, Lee returned to making sculptures by taking classes at Dallas College, Brookhaven, learning new processes such as welding, forging and casting. He lives and works in Dallas.
Studio: Lee works in Dallas Makerspace, a nonprofit community workshop and creative center. The member-operated organization has shared space and equipment for many creative fields, including woodworking, metalworking, blacksmithing, automotive work, ceramics and jewelry making.
“It is open 24 hours a day and has been a fantastic place to be part of a creative community while learning from people with deep expertise in different fields,” said Lee.
In the beginning: Lee said he has always been drawn to the way forms occupy space, and how that can be experienced in degrees of beauty.
“That is especially true when something is in motion, such as a dancer, an athlete, or an animal,” said Lee. “I also saw that same power in man-made things: tools, vehicles, furniture, buildings, anime monsters, and of course, sculptures.
“I’m generally an easily distracted person, but when I am making something and see something emerge that almost feels alive, I find myself fixated by it. And there is no other solitary activity that is as deeply satisfying.”
Because of that, moving from studying art into industrial design felt fluid and natural to him.
“I never saw design and sculpture as completely separate chapters, and I still don’t,” said Lee. “I continue to work in both.”
Art & materials: For medium to small-scale works, Lee primarily uses mild steel and mortar, building forms intuitively rather than fabricating from precise plans.
In other works, Lee uses materials such as bronze and brass for color contrast and patina, along with additives in the mortar mix, including colorants, aggregates, and polymers, to adjust color, texture, and strength.
Smaller pieces often test ideas that can also scale up into large indoor or outdoor sculptures.
Prices:
- Small-scale works: $1,000 to $3,000.
- Pedestal and wall pieces: $3,000 to $9,000.
- Large-scale and outdoor works: $10,000 and higher.
What’s popular: His “Illusion of Recognition” series tends to get a lot of attention.
“The pieces can suggest something organic in motion, or alive yet vulnerable, which gives people an easy way in without needing much explanation,” said Lee.
Favorite or must-have tools: “All my welding machines (MIG, TIG, Oxy-acetylene, stick), portable plasma cutter, and of course the love-hate relationship with the angle grinder,” said Lee.
“And I try to practice safety, so a compact respirator is on the whole time I’m in the shop.”
Influences:
- The first half of the 20th century is probably still the biggest influence on him – especially the period when artists, designers and architects were rethinking form, abstraction, movement, structure and space.
“I’m drawn to that modernist attitude toward art and design where sculpture, architecture, furniture, painting and design were all redefining themselves and all influencing one another,” said Lee.
- Animation, comics, nature, machinery, and the way bodies move through space.
“I respond strongly to forms with tension, rhythm, gesture and internal energy,” said Lee. “But whatever the source, I like to feel authenticity and a little bit of vulnerability in a creation.”
Special commissions: “Flight of Dreams” was a submission to an open call by city of Edmond, OK. Lee made the submission as part of a two-artist team (Lee as lead artist and Brandon Taylor of 23designco.com as lead fabricator).
“This is unique because we utilized all our skillsets (design, engineering, fabrication) to come up with a site-specific sculpture that is also signage-art,” said Lee.
What’s new: “Elegance of Complexity,” a solo exhibit at Plaza of the Americas, Dallas, TX. Through June. (Image at right)
What’s next:
- Planned installation of public art commission: “Flight of Dreams,” a centerpiece for A.C. Caplinger Sports Complex, a new youth baseball/softball park in Edmond, OK. Designed with a spirit of baseball cards and floating balloons. June. (Image at right)
- Planned installation of public art commission: “Multifaceted,” a steel sculpture in a new residential development in Farmers Branch, TX. Summer 2026.
- Planned installation of outdoor sculpture “Friend or Foe” at Dallas College Brookhaven Campus. July.
Where to buy or commission: stephenleesculpture.com.
Connect:
- Instagram: @stephenleesculpture
