LEEBUL

The year she turned 23, she graduated from the sculpture department of Hongik University. Around graduation she formed the art group Museum with colleagues and was active in it for three years. In 1988, she held her first solo show at Il Gallery in Seoul. In 1989, she hung naked from the ceiling at an exhibition on the theme of abortion. In 1990, she wore a monster-like costume and traveled from Gimpo Airport to Tokyo over 12 days as a performance.

In 1991, she made Majestic Splendor, an installation with fish and sequins in a refrigerated display case. By 1996, the Seoul Museum of Art says, she had given 33 performances since 1988.

The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 33, she showed an installation of sequin-decorated raw fish decaying over time at an invited show at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Newsis writes that she rose to prominence in the world art scene through this show.

In 1998, she held a solo show at Art Sonje Center in Seoul and was named a finalist for the Guggenheim Hugo Boss Prize. In 1999, she took part in the Venice Biennale as an artist of the Korean Pavilion and in the main exhibition, and received an honorable mention.

In 2002, she received the Seokju Art Prize and held a solo show at Rodin Gallery. In 2005, she showed her Mon grand récit series at Art Basel. In 2007, Yonhap News Agency writes, she was the first Korean artist to hold a solo show at the Cartier museum in Paris. In 2012, she held a retrospective at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the first by an Asian woman artist there, and in September a solo show at Art Sonje Center in Seoul.

The year she turned 50, she received the mid-career artist prize of the Noon Award at the Gwangju Biennale and became the first artist of the Hyundai Motor Series at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. In 2015, she showed an installation at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. In 2016, she received the French government’s Order of Arts and Letters.

The year she turned 54, she held a solo show at the Hayward Gallery in London. A fire on opening night postponed public opening. In 2019, she took part in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale for the second time and received the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts. In 2021, she held Lee Bul: Beginning at the Seoul Museum of Art, a show gathering her early performance work.

In 2022, she received an honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2023, she received the Ruth Baumgarte Art Prize. In 2024, she took on the Genesis Facade Commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as the first Korean and Asian artist to do so.

The year she turned 61, she signed with Hauser & Wirth and in September opened a large-scale survey show at Leeum Museum of Art. In 2026, she opened the touring show at M+ in Hong Kong and in September began a show at Hauser & Wirth in New York.

Lee Bul (born 1964) debuted in 1988, the year she turned 24, with her first solo show at Il Gallery in Seoul, and became known in the art world on Jan 23, 1997, the year she turned 33, with an invited show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1999, the year she turned 35, she received an honorable mention at the Venice Biennale.

Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.