Erotic nuns and pubic plaits: Inside Joyce Lee’s surreal, sensual world

The human body is almost always at the centre of artist Joyce Lee’s work, often transformed into psychedelic penis-shaped mushrooms or vulvic flowers exuding sticky pearls. These surreal metamorphoses 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 explicit 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 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, challenging the concept of ‘good taste’. 

Her success has grown largely through the internet. 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. 

Joyce Lee: Archive (published by Baron) brings together over 150 of her lush, sensual, otherworldly artworks. Below, we catch up with the South Korean artist at her home studio in Seoul to chat about her archive, sexual politics and mortality.

Please could you begin by telling us about what the sexual politics of South Korea are like?

Joyce Lee: I think that Korean sexual politics is not remarkably different from that of the West. It has evolved rapidly over the past ten years. However, unlike in the West, I think people remain very reluctant to talk openly about sex. In Western movies or dramas, I see people discussing and talking freely about sex, but this is not the case in Korea. It’s still a bit difficult for Koreans to overcome their introversion regarding sex and sexuality.

Why do you think that is?

Joyce Lee: Korea has traditionally been a strongly Confucian society. Confucianism has deeply influenced every aspect of our culture, including sex, marriage, and the role of women in society – all very conservative ethics that we are compelled to follow. However, sexuality in Korea has been influenced in modern times by the evolution of culture and religion, along with a general trend of Westernisation. Viewpoints in our contemporary society can be viewed through the lens of a conflict between the traditional, conservative older generation and the dramatically more liberal, modern generation.

Do your artworks ever depict your own sexual fantasies? 

Joyce Lee: I can’t say never, but in my life, I am more interested in mental relationships than physical ones, even though these tend to be deeply intertwined and entangled. Thus, ‘relationships’ are far more metaphysical and challenging to depict visually.

Desire in your artworks is expressed in a sensual and sometimes comedic way. Why is that?

Joyce Lee:  I like the feeling that comes when two conflicting aspects are combined in creating an artistic medium, whether it be literature, film, music, etcetera. We feel pleasure in seeing something beautiful and perfect become imperfect and awkward.

I rarely have sexual dreams, but I am interested in the sexual fantasies of others, and I love to visualise them through my interpretation – Joyce Lee

The combination of these elements means the viewer doesn’t feel like they are participating in a conventional patriarchal gaze. 

Joyce Lee:  I grew up in a very patriarchal environment. My father and my brother were extraordinarily conservative and chauvinist. At the time, I was so used to it that I didn’t even feel like I was trapped and pressured due to being a woman, but looking back, I realise it was a kind of unintentional gaslighting which would be utterly unacceptable to me now. Your question makes me very happy because at least I now know that my work is far removed from being patriarchal.

There is a celebration of bodies and pleasure, but it feels more that we are invited into the work rather than ogling the subjects. 

Joyce Lee:  My work is surreal, but I depict a world similar to reality so the viewer feels a sense of affinity. But the world in my work exists in another dimension. There are beautiful human bodies indulging in pleasure and sometimes exotic nature, but it’s far from reality. Ironically, viewing something taboo in an unreal setting makes the viewer feel comfortable and engaged with my art.

The surrealists are another of your reference points- both in terms of style and imagery- and this group was heavily inspired by psychoanalysis and the erotic potential of dreams. To what extent are you interested in this concept of the subconscious mind? 

Joyce Lee:  Most of my unforgettable dreams are terrifying nightmares. It would be a kind of horror or fantasy art if I created art from my dreams. Yet I think the most significant component hidden in my subconsciousness is a kind of ‘horror’ about life itself. I rarely have sexual dreams, but I am interested in the sexual fantasies of others, and I love to visualise them through my interpretation. 

You are well-known for your modernised and eroticised images of nuns. The tension between religion and desire has existed throughout human history, and the character of the naughty nun is a unique reference in pop culture. What is it about the nun that is so powerful for you? 

Joyce Lee: I like religions as they are well-intentioned, and I like the concept of churches. What I don’t like is when religion becomes systemised. As I have said in other interviews, God is not conservative. Instead, God is progressive and utterly unbound by formalities, structures, or rules meant to control others. The habits that nuns wear are fascinating and beautiful to me. I see a lot of works depicting nuns as highly sexualised women and licentious libertines as the forbidden objects of sexual desire. Although they are trapped in their conservative uniforms, the free will and desire of human beings still exist within them, particularly regarding their own body; I cannot possibly believe that God would be angered or even surprised by this. Whatever God’s intention was in imbuing human beings with sexual desire, the answer is not within the strict conservative rules and ethics found in religion today.

What inspires you to explore religion in your work? 

Joyce Lee: I have been curious about God, not God’s existence, but to know the essential nature of God. When I was young, I attended church every week. As I matured, I stopped attending church every week due to the evolution of my thoughts about the church system and community rather than any change in my fundamental belief in God. I visit random churches occasionally when I need a tranquil space. I have concluded that God would not be critical or judgmental of trivial human decisions and behaviours that do not harm others. There is no universe where God would care about whether a person gets a tattoo, a piercing, a pedicure, or wears red fishnet stockings.

There is no universe where God would care about whether a person gets a tattoo, a piercing, a pedicure, or wears red fishnet stockings – Joyce Lee

You also often combine history with modern references, with elements taken from popular culture like brand logos. Your ability to bridge the past and the present is one of the critical aspects of your work. 

Joyce Lee: I like combining divergent and dissimilar images to create a sense of defamiliarisation. I like the combination of seriousness and humour, beauty and horror, tradition and trends, etcetera. Describing past eras is easy because we remember many symbolic objects, like clothing or culture, emblematic of specific eras. In that sense, brand logos are very powerful images that can very quickly identify the decade from which they come. 

Does your work ever get critiqued? 

Joyce Lee: Of course, yes! Many followers leave comments asking me why I draw pictures that focus only on sexual imagery. I assume that those followers probably started following me because they liked my style, but then, for some reason, they began to criticise the things they were attracted to. It seems that people have an intuitive sense of guilt about sex, causing a sense of personal shame, which is expressed outwardly through attacking or criticising me and my work.

And what do you think that guilt and shame are about?

Joyce Lee: It is a conflict between what society teaches us about sexuality, which does not match the reality of actual human sexual nature.

Although your work is very joyful and erotic, it does touch on themes around death, like the image of the skeleton on the front cover of this book. Skeletons making love are featured in a few of the works in this book. Death and sex are opposite ends of the human experience, but many artists have worked with these contrasting elements. What draws you towards these death references, and how do they fit within the erotic worlds you create? 

Joyce Lee: To me, death is an integral part of life. I wanted to portray the inevitable destiny of facing death in human life as a figure of a sexy grim reaper who is as hard to resist as any other compelling sexual imagery. 

Joyce Lee: Archive (published by Baron) is available now