Moka Lee: Persona Works

David Kordansky Gallery Los Angeles · Mid-City

Exhibition on view: Jul 10, 2026 - Aug 22, 2026

Moka Lee: Persona Works examines identity in the age of social media through luminous portraits and still lifes that blur the line between authentic self and curated persona. Working from legally licensed online images, Lee transforms fleeting digital photographs into meticulously layered oil paintings, revealing the tension between vulnerability and self-presentation. Her portraits, childhood images, and vanitas-inspired cakes explore beauty, memory, and mortality, inviting viewers to look beyond polished surfaces to the fragile humanity beneath.

Artist

Moka Lee

Moka Lee (b. 1996, South Korea) has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Carlos/Ishikawa, London (2025); Jason Haam, Seoul, South Korea (2023); Gallery ANOV, Seoul, South Korea (2020); and Yugiche, Busan, South Korea (2020). Notable group exhibitions include Second Body, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2025); MOSS : The Damp and Shaded Green Mass, Seoul Museum, Seoul, South Korea (2025); SeMA Omnibus: At the End of the World Split Endlessly, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea (2024); Masterful Attention Seekers, Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan, South Korea (2024); and Artificial Tears, Museum Head, Seoul, South Korea (2024). Her work is in the permanent collections of the Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea; Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China; and Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway. She lives and works in Seoul, South Korea.

Works

Artworks in this exhibition