Sarah Lee
DiscoveryEgon research · Artist market profile
The market, in context.
Explore Sarah Lee’s auction history alongside the exhibitions, collections and gallery relationships behind the market.
Institutional research
Collections & exhibitions
Read holdings, exhibition history and their qualifications in context.
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Egon investment scores
Market position
Research updated
Auction highlights
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| Work | Result | Venue and date |
|---|---|---|
| Moonrise Over the Sea | Price not disclosed (sign up required) | Phillips New York, March 12, 2024 |
| Forest I | Price not disclosed (sign up required) | Phillips, September 14, 2023 |
| Forest I | Price not disclosed | Phillips Hong Kong, September 14, 2023 |
1 further auction entries on record for Sarah Lee — inside Egon.
Pricing
- Market phase
- Emerging artist transitioning from primary-only to early secondary market presence
Estimate ranges
- Note
- Actual hammer prices not publicly disclosed for most recent auctions, indicating strong gallery control and collector discretion
- Small works prints
- $3,300-$5,800 USD (HK estimates for small paintings)
Temporal context
2022-2024: Early secondary market formation with 4 tracked auction appearances, primarily smaller works and prints. Primary market through Albertz Benda and Anat Ebgi.
- Current market status
- Gallery-controlled primary market with limited secondary market presence
Liquidity
- Market depth
- Very limited - early stage secondary market
- Annual volume
- Approximately 2-4 auction lots per year (2022-2024)
- Collector base
- Growing, primarily contemporary art collectors focused on emerging painters
- Geographic distribution
- Strong in New York and Los Angeles; emerging presence in Hong Kong and Asian markets
Comparables
- Positioning
- Positioned as emerging contemporary painter with institutional backing from Albertz Benda and Anat Ebgi
- Peer artists
- Contemporary landscape painters in similar career stage with gallery representation at mid-tier galleries
- Differentiators
- Nocturnal landscape focus, Korean-American perspective, pandemic-era work resonance
Collector base
- Primary collectors
- Contemporary art collectors, Asian-American art collectors, emerging art enthusiasts
- Institutional interest
- Smithsonian Institution (11 works confirmed), potential other institutional acquisitions through galleries
Primary market
- Note
- Price transparency limited as typical for emerging artists with strong gallery representation
- Availability
- Works available through primary galleries
- Gallery pricing
- Contact Albertz Benda or Anat Ebgi for current pricing
Auction history
- Date range
- 2022-2024
Auction houses
- Phillips
- Artsy Auction
- Total lots tracked
- 4
Institutional presence
Research updated
Museum collections
- Note
- Limited public information on other museum collections; likely in early stages of institutional acquisition
Curatorial interest
Lee's work represents an exciting alternative to identity-based figuration that has dominated painting practice in previous years and signals a shift towards a more mystical approach to artmaking.
Confirmed collections
Smithsonian Institution
- Significance
- Major validation for emerging artist
Art fair participation
- Art Basel Hong Kong (2025)
- Frieze Seoul (2025)
- The Aspen Art Fair (2025)
- Art Taipei (2018, 2019)
- EXPO Chicago (2017)
Career & Biography
Research updated
Career
Key milestones
- BFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2011)
- Founded Nail in a Pocket, non-profit artist-run project space in Chicago (2017)
- MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2017)
- First gallery representation with mh PROJECT nyc (2021)
- Representation by Albertz Benda, New York (2023)
- Representation by Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles (2024-2025)
- Work included in Artists Against Anti-Asian Violence Benefit Auction (2021)
- Phillips auction presence (2022-2024)
Identity
- Years active
- 2011-present (approximately 14 years)
- Current location
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
Personal background
Her earliest landscapes were painted during the pandemic, their serenity and mystery emerging from a socially shaped and collectively shared moment.
Artistic context
Thinks about the 'other world' where there are no others, no noise, just a solitary sensation of being. Believes night and winter are the 'other world' that magically pauses the rhythm of life.
Artistic Profile
Research updated
Evolution
- Critical reception evolution
- Growing recognition from 2021 onwards; transition from emerging artist to mid-career recognition; increasing institutional and critical attention
Influences
- Finely painted, haunting landscapes hail from European rather than East Asian tradition. Reproduction of Millais's Ophelia hangs alongside French illustrations and photos of Northern Lights in studio
- Legacy of Surreal artists including Giorgio di Chirico, Yves Tanguy, and Marion Elizabeth Adnams or transcendental artists including Agnes Pelton and Lawren Harris
- Romantic landscape tradition
- European painting tradition
- Northern Lights and natural phenomena
Themes and subjects
Subjects
- Oil paintings that foreground the interplay of elemental forces, where aerial, aquatic, sylvan, lacustrine, and lithic motifs converge into speculative landscapes
- Forest clearings, celestial skies, and distant horizons, shaped by quiet reflection and poetic ambiguity
- Unpopulated nocturnal forests
- Mysterious light sources in darkness
- Small creatures and details (luna moths, flowers)
Techniques and mediums
Innovations
- Contemporary nocturnal landscape painting that bridges Surrealism and transcendental art
- Pandemic-era work that captures collective experience of isolation
- Places unexpected elements in each canvas (creatures, flowers) sometimes barely discernable. Small touches combined with multiple light sources lend uncanny glowing atmosphere
Critical Reception
Research updated
Critical reception
- Catalogue raisonne
- None
Publications and media
- Active presence
- Artsy profile
- Active with auction results and exhibition listings
- Artist website
- sulhwalee.com
- Media coverage
- Growing coverage in contemporary art publications
Major publications
In Her New York Studio, Artist Sarah Lee Paints at Night to Find the Dark, Rich Shades for Her Alluring Scenes of Nature
- Date
- September 26, 2023
- Type
- Studio visit/profile
- Author
- Katie White
- Publication
- Artnet News
- Source index
- 71-1,71-6,89-2
Sarah Lee: At Moonlight
- Type
- Feature
- Issue
- Winter 2024
- Publication
- Juxtapoz Magazine
- Source index
- 73-1,89-2
Contemporary Artists are Tapping into the Age-Old Allure of Nocturnal Scenes
- Type
- Thematic article
- Year
- 2023
- Publication
- Artsy
- Source index
- 27-3,59-3,89-2
Enigmatic Wonder and Magic Envelop Sarah Lee's Illuminated Landscapes
- Type
- Feature
- Year
- 2023
- Publication
- Colossal
- Source index
- 27-3,59-3,89-2
- Type
- Curated selection
- Year
- 2022
- Issue
- Issue 158
- Curator
- Bill Power
- Publication
- New American Painting
- Source index
- 27-3,59-3,89-2
INTERVIEW, 코리안 르네상스 시대의 개막 2
- Type
- Interview
- Issue
- September 2023
- Language
- Korean
- Publication
- 리빙센스 (Living Sense)
- Source index
- 27-3,59-3,89-2
- Documentary coverage
- Featured in studio visit articles and gallery press materials
Gallery & Representation
Research updated
Fair presence
- Fair
- Art Basel Hong Kong
- Year
- 2025
- With gallery
- Likely Albertz Benda
- Fair
- Frieze Seoul
- Year
- 2025
- Fair
- Aspen Art Fair
- Year
- 2025
Representation
- Gallery tier
- Mid-tier contemporary with upward trajectory
Exhibition history galleries
Scroll horizontally if needed →
| Year | Gallery | Location | Source index |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | PMAM | London | 32-1,41-1 |
| Not supplied | 1969 Gallery | New York | 32-1,41-1 |
| 2022 | Bill Brady Gallery | Los Angeles | 32-1,41-1 |
| Not supplied | Carl Kostyal | Milan | 32-1,41-1 |
| 2021 | ATM Gallery | New York | 32-1,41-1 |
| Not supplied | Galerie Hussenot | Paris | 32-1,41-1 |
| 2021 | mh PROJECT nyc | New York | 37-1,37-3 |
| 2024 | Stems Gallery | Paris | 27-1 |
| 2023 | Gana Art | Los Angeles | 27-1 |
Geographic reach
Works available through Albertz Benda and Anat Ebgi; limited secondary market availability Strong presence in New York, Los Angeles, expanding internationally (London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Seoul)
Sources & research notes
Egon’s artist research combines historical auction records, recent sales, institutional history, critical reception and gallery information. Researched auction records and auction highlights are identified separately.
Read prices with their work, sale date, currency and stated basis. Egon’s market assessments are distinct from reported auction results.
Reference: Egon, “Sarah Lee: Market Intelligence & Investment Profile.”
Research updates by section
These dates show when Egon’s research sections were updated. Source retrieval dates, where supplied above, refer to individual evidence notes.
Ranking updated . Research sections follow their own update dates.
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