Bovey Lee
"I cut paper into intricate worlds that explore migration across humanity, technology, and nature. Movement is our deepest instinct."
Bovey Lee is a contemporary artist known for her highly intricate hand cut paper and immersive installations that center on migration as a unifying theme. She explores the movement of people, identities, and societal patterns while addressing humanity’s evolving relationship with nature and technology. In her work, Lee transplants and recontextualizes existing images to create conceptual narratives that balance fragility and resilience, blending hand cut techniques with digital technologies for contemporary storytelling.
Lee’s works have been exhibited worldwide and are represented in permanent collections including the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, UK; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto, Canada; Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada; Fengxian Museum, Shanghai, China; Hong Kong Museum of Art; USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California; Escalette Collection of Art, Chapman University, Orange, California; The Chinese University of Hong Kong; BNY Mellon Corporate Art Collection; Fidelity Corporate Art Collection; Progressive Corporate Art Collection; Park Hyatt, Sanya, China; Stanford Health Care, Palo Alto, California; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, California; Montage Health Foundation, Monterey, California; and private collections.
Born in Hong Kong
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California, USA
Education
2000 MFA in Digital Arts, Pratt Institute, New York
1995 MFA in Painting & Drawing, University of California, Berkeley, California
1991 BA in Fine Art, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Selected Awards and Honors
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Vira I. Heinz Endowment Fellowship
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award Nominee
Mid Career Artist, Asian American Arts Center, New York
Artist Opportunity Grants, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jack K. and Gertrude Murphy Fine Arts Fellowship, The San Francisco Foundation, California
Urban Council Fine Arts Award, Contemporary Art Biennial, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
Jackie Chan Academic Achievement Award, Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, Hong Kong
Selected Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions/Special Projects
2023-2025 Hong Kong Museum of Art, Bird Song, Flower Scent, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2022 Grotto Fine Art, The Universe Is Luxurious, Central, Hong Kong
2021-2022 Rena Bransten Gallery, Bathing in the Forest of House Plants, San Francisco, California
2019 Facebook Artists in Residence, Site-specific installation, Meta, Los Angeles, California
2019 Rena Bransten Gallery, We Are All Mountaineers, San Francisco, California
2018 Absolut Art, Limited editions, Stockholm, Sweden (absolutart.com)
2017 Rena Bransten Gallery, The Sea Will Come To Kiss Me, San Francisco, California
2017 Hong Kong Museum of Art, Cutting Forest Out of City, online video project, Hong Kong
2016 Grotto Fine Art, Invertigo, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2016 Gavlak Gallery, Divertical, Los Angeles, California
2013 Gavlak Gallery, Water Has A Memory, Palm Beach, Florida
2013 Rena Bransten Gallery, Conundrums, San Francisco, California
2012 Nevada Museum of Art, Undercurrents, Reno, Nevada
2012 Grotto Fine Art, Bloom, Central, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2012 IFC, Bloom, Shanghai, China (presented by Hugo Boss)
2011 709 Penn Gallery, Paper Streets, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2010 Pacific Place, Butterfly Bliss, Hong Kong
2009 Grotto Fine Art, Where the Waves Break, Central, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2007 Grotto Fine Art, On Gossamer’s Edge, Central, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2007 Asian American Arts Center, Bing Lee and Bovey Lee at Mid Career, New York, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs
2025 Fengxian Museum, Shanghai International Paper Art Biennale, Shanghai, Hong Kong (thru Feb 2026)
2025 Grotto Fine Art, The Magical Ts’un: Texture Beyond Strokes, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong
2024 Hong Kong Central Library, The Charm of Ink: Contrast of Black & White, curated by Hoi 2024 Chiu Tang, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2024 Wing Luke Museum, Lost & Found: Searching for Home, Seattle, WA (thru 2026)
2024 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Fine Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2024 Grotto Fine Art, Light & Traces: The Presence of Absence, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong
2024 Fost Gallery, Fibre Optics, Singapore
2024 U.S. Embassy, Stockholm 2022, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
2023 Rena Bransten Gallery, Hidden Stories, San Francisco, CA
2023 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2023 U.S. Embassy, Stockholm 2022, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
2022 U.S. Embassy, Stockholm 2022, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue)
2022 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2022 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, 31 Women, curated by Caroline Ha Thuc, Central, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2021 University of Alberta, EcoArt China, Alberta, Canada (online, catalogue)
2021 Grotto Fine Art, 20th Anniversary Show, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong
2021 Chautauqua Institution, Tenacity, Chautauqua, New York
2021 Rena Bransten Gallery, When Nobody’s Watching, San Francisco, California
2021 Exhibition & Convention Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2020 Carnegie Arts Center, Cut Up/Cut Out, Turlock, California (online)
2020 Fost Gallery, How to Read the Paper, Singapore
2020 Online, Inaugural Art Basel Viewing Rooms, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2020 Massillon Museum, Cut Up/Cut Out, Massillon, Ohio
2020 Fost Gallery, Come Together, Singapore
2020 Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Invincible California: UC Berkeley Art Alumni Exhibition, University of California, Berkeley, California
2019 Untitled, Art, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida
2019 Leatherby Libraries, The Border, Chapman University, Orange, California
2019 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2019 Grotto Fine Art, New Space Inaugural Exhibition, Hong Kong
2019 Cut Up/Cut Out, traveling exhibition, Lamont Gallery, Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH; 2019 Museum of Art & Sciences, Daytona Beach, FL; Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, 2019 Wausau, WI; Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX; Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
2018 Pulse, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida
2018 Affordable Art Fair, Limited edition prints with Absolut Art, Stockholm, Sweden
2018 Ashmolean Museum, A Century of Women in Chinese Art, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom
2018 Ellen Noel Art Museum, Cut Up/Cut Out, Odessa, Texas
2018 Rena Bransten Gallery, The Portrait Show, San Francisco, California
2018 Dallas Art Fair, with Conduit Gallery, Dallax, Texas
2018 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2018 Fost Gallery, The Foster Emporium, Singapore
2018 Pensacola Museum, Cut Up/Cut Out, Pensacola, Florida
2017 Pulse, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida
2017 Hunstville Museum of Art, Cut Up/Cut Out, Bellevue, Washington
2017 Bellevue Arts Museum, Cut Up/Cut Out, Bellevue, Washington
2017 Gavlak Gallery, Flaming June VII (Flaming Creatures), Los Angeles, California
2017 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2017 Gavlak Gallery, Not I, We, Los Angeles, California
2017 Grotto Fine Art, Grotto x CUHK Grads: The Passion of Discovery I, Central, Hong Kong
2017 Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Cut Up/Cut Out, Walnut Creek, California (national tour thru 2020)
2017 Gavlak Gallery, Group show, Palm Beach, Florida
2016 Art Basel, solo presentation with Gavlak Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida
2016 Christie’s, Asian Contemporary Art Day Sale, Exhibition and Convention Center, Hong Kong
2016 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2016 The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Nurturing Creativity, Central, Hong Kong
2016 Fuller Craft Museum, Paper and Blade: Modern Paper Cutting, Brockton, Massachusetts
2015 From Palace to Studio: Chinese Women Artists, 1900 to the Present, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
2015 Gavlak, Ten Year Anniversary Show, Los Angeles, California and Palm Beach, Florida
2015 Gavlak, Summer Group Show, Palm Beach, Florida
2015 Center for Art and Thought, RaceCraft (online)
2015 Art Taipei, with Grotto Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2015 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Fine Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2015 Subliminal Projects, Paper Cut, Los Angeles, California
2015 Museum Kunst der Westkueste, Papermania!, Alkersum/Foehr, Germany
2015 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2015 Art Stage, with Fost Gallery, Singapore
2015 Grotto Fine Art, Wearing Identity, Central, Hong Kong
2014 Art Basel, with Gavlak Gallery, Miami, Florida
2014 Pulse, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami, Florida
2014 Rena Bransten Projects, Reigning Cats and Dogs, San Francisco, California
2014 Fine Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Exhibition and Convention Center, Hong Kong
2014 PMQ, A Square Meter of Sensation, curated by Mingpao Weekly, sponsored by Hermès, Hong Kong
2014 Gavlak Gallery, Inaugural Gallery Artist Exhibition, Los Angeles, California
2014 Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture, From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary: Paper as Art, Delray Beach, Florida
2014 Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University, Paper Work, Denver, Colorado
2014 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2014 Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Fold, Paper, Scissors, Mesa, Arizona
2014 The Armory Show, with Gavlak Gallery, Pier 94, New York, New York
2014 Museum of Craft and Design, Obsessive Reductive, San Francisco, California
2014 101/Exhibit, Cat Art Show Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
2013 Gavak Gallery, Gallery Artists Show, Palm Beach, Florida
2013 Art Basel, with Gavlak Gallery, Miami, Florida (catalogue)
2013 OV Gallery, Follies of a Species, Shanghai, China
2013 Fine Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Exhibition and Convention Center, Hong Kong
2013 Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Stories of a Changing China, Ketchum, Idaho
2013 Volta 9, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
2013 Gavlak Gallery, All F**king Summer, Palm Beach, Florida
2013 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art Basel, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2013 Parallel Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Eye, Mandarin Oriental Clipper Lounge, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2013 The Armory Show, with Gavlak Gallery, Pier 94, New York, New York
2013 Scope, with Grotto Fine Art, New York, New York
2013 Wing Luke Museum, Paper Unbound: Horiuchi and Beyond, Seattle, Washington
2012 Gavlak Gallery, Gallery Artists Show, Palm Beach, Florida
2012 The Miami Project, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami, Florida
2012 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Fine Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2012 Stockton College Art Gallery, Perception Shift, Stockton, Galloway, New Jersey
2012 Concept Art Gallery, 40th Anniversary Curator’s Choice Show, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2012 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Art HK, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2012 Scope, with Grotto Fine Art, New York, New York
2011 Pulse, with Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami, Florida
2011 Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Miami, Florida
2011 Fujikawa Kirie Art Museum, Kirie of the World, Fujikawa, Japan
2011 Shelburne Museum, Paperwork in 3D, Shelburne, Vermont
2011 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, ART HK, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2011 Rena Bransten Gallery, Pure Paper, San Francisco, California
2010 Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Miami, Florida
2010 Museum Rijswijk, Holland Paper Biennial, The Netherlands (catalogue)
2010 OV Gallery, Shifting Definitions, Shanghai, China
2010 Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2010 Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Touch Me Please, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2010 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, ART HK, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2010 Grotto Fine Art, The Linear Dimension, Central, Hong Kong (catalogue)
2010 Artist Image Resource, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2010 Children’s Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2010 James Gallery, Pulp Fiction, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2009 Museum Bellerive, Silhouettes – Pure Contour, Zurich, Switzerland
2009 Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Miami, Florida
2009 Rossi and Rossi Gallery, Urban Spirituality, London, United Kingdom (catalogue)
2009 Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Basel, Switzerland
2009 Blackburn Museum, Strange World, Blackburn, United Kingdom
2009 Grotto Fine Art, Liners’ Paradox, Central, Hong Kong
2009 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Hong Kong International Art Fair, with Grotto Fine Art, Hong Kong
2008 Art Asia, with Grotto Fine Art, Miami, Florida
2008 National Glass Centre, Beautifully Crafted, Sunderland, United Kingdom
2008 Fe Gallery, In the Making, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (catalogue)
2008 Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh Biennial, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (catalogue)