Joyce Lee - Archive

Archive is Baron’s latest collection of Joyce Lee’s artworks, following the debut publication titled after the artist. This book contains 150 images from Lee’s body of work and offers a look into the lush, sensual and strange worlds the artist creates.

The human body is almost always at the centre of Lee’s work and is often transformed into objects that are suggestive of human body parts, such as penis-shaped mushrooms and vulvic flowers that spit out sticky pearls. These surreal transformations move the viewer away from reality and into imaginary spaces, where desire and the body’s experience of pleasure are the main focus. Over-the-top sexuality is combined with visual gags to lend the images a bizarre and obscene sense of humour. The exaggerated campness of Lee’s work is joyful, mixing comedy with sex and working against the idea that art has to be serious.

Lee’s work often combines opposite elements of history and modernity, beauty and trashiness. In this way she confuses the boundaries between high and low culture, making the viewer question the concept of taste. Lee mixes clear references to art history— reworking pieces by Dalí, Magritte and Manet — with pop culture references and brand logos. Her works poke fun at ‘high culture’ by adding low-brow, everyday elements into beautiful images inspired by well-known and critically-praised artworks. There is also a deliberately kitsch quality to Lee’s art which celebrates what is considered tacky and mainstream consumer culture, and so challenges the concept of ‘good taste’.

Joyce Lee’s success has grown largely through the internet and she regularly posts work on Instagram, amassing a huge following. Rather than being represented by the often restrictive and gate-kept institution of the gallery, Lee is more independent and directly in touch with her fanbase — who have created a community around the work and can request commissions online.

Archive is a publication that brings together images from Lee’s substantial body of work. Building an archive of Joyce Lee’s artworks in print form means creating a physical documentation of the artist's career that credits but exists separately from the online sphere. Moreover, since an artist’s archive usually contains secondary material, the title of this publication highlights the many reference points that inspire Lee’s work.

Archive also includes an intimate interview with Joyce Lee.

Joyce Lee is a South Korean artist gaining a huge following after posting her art online. Lee’s work has been published internationally and received critical praise from publications including Numero and Playboy Magazine. Lee’s first book, entitled Baron by Joyce Lee was published in 2022 by Baron, Archive is the artist second book, published in 2024 by Baron.