Charles Lee is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator based between Cleveland and Oakland. Using photography, archives, assemblage, drawing, video, and installation, the interdisciplinarity of Lee’s work is a metaphor for what Blackness is; a stateless existence that is always in flux and at odds with categorization. It is a search for the sublime moment within the quotidian. The sublimity in the work lies in its impermanence, the labor-intensive making and the work’s personal nature. Lee’s work extrudes that which is universally experienced while simultaneously elucidating experiences that are culturally specific and challenge traditional Western epistemologies.

Lee holds an MFA in Fine Arts from California College of the Arts, and a BA in Business with a focus in Marketing from Bowie State University. His work has been exhibited broadly including Berggruen Gallery (SF), the Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis, Casemore Gallery, Marin MoCA, SF Camerawork and 1014 Gallery in London. His work is held in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College and Recology.