Archive of Author | Billy Lee

About Billy Lee

Billy Lee was born of Chinese and Dutch parentage in Uitenhage, South Africa. As a child, his parents immigrated to England, where he later received his BFA, 1st class honours, from Birmingham College of Art and Design, and his MFA at the Royal College of Art, London (RCA). Upon graduation from the RCA, he received the prestigious award of Kennedy Scholar, to attend the Centre for Advanced Visual Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was later named a Fellow. He remains the only artist ever to receive the award of Kennedy Scholar. Thanks to his considerable and growing international reputation, Lee is consistently invited to exhibit and place works throughout the world. In 1991, he received the Giacomo Manzu Special Prize at the ‘7th Henry Moore International Sculpture Exhibition’ in Japan. At the Fujisankei Biennale in 1993, he was awarded the Rodin Prize for his work exhibited in the Hakone/Utsukushi-ga-hara Open Air Museum, Japan. Lee was invited to participate in ‘Thinking Big: 21st Century British Sculpture’ at the Guggenheim in Venice’, the Beijing Art Biennale in 2008 and 2010 and also Cairo Biennale. He was one of five international sculptors to attend the ’11th International Steel Sculptors Symposium’ in Hungary. His sculptures are represented in public and private collections across the globe, including Yuzi Paradise Sculpture Park, Guilin, China, The Hakone/Utsukushi-ga-hara Open Air Museum, Japan, Changsha City, Qingdao, Goodwood Sculpture, UK, The Memorial Rose Garden, Shanghai Sculpture Park, Chin Pao San, Taipei, Taiwan, Dunaujvaros Sculpture Park, Hungary, Cementerio Carretas, Putaendo Sculpture Park, Chile, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Bozhou Sculpture Park, Anhui Province,Wuhai, Wuhottot Inner Mongolia, Wuhu Sculpture Park, Anhui Province, Lan Wan Art Park, Qingdao, Shandong and many others in the United States. Lee is a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Research Excellence Award at UNCG, Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award from the Southeastern College Art Conference, NC Visual Artists Fellowship, NC Arts Council Regional Hub Grant, Outstanding Prize at the 1st Yuzi Paradise International Sculpture Exhibition, Merit Prize at the International Horticultural Exposition, Qingdao. 2015 Excellence Prize, The 5th Lui Kaiqu Award International Sculpture Exhibition, Anhui Province He has lectured and placed large outdoor sculptures all over China. In addition, he continues to exhibit in the USA, UK, Europe and the Far East. Lee currently resides in the United States and is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Billy Lee was born of Chinese and Dutch parentage in Uitenhage, South Africa. As a child, his parents immigrated to England, where he later received his BFA, 1st class honours, from Birmingham College of Art and Design, and his MFA at the Royal College of Art, London (RCA). Upon graduation from the RCA, he received the prestigious award of Kennedy Scholar, to attend the Centre for Advanced Visual Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was later named a Fellow. He remains the only artist ever to receive the award of Kennedy Scholar.

Thanks to his considerable and growing international reputation, Lee is consistently invited to exhibit and place works throughout the world. In 1991, he received the Giacomo Manzu Special Prize at the ‘7th Henry Moore International Sculpture Exhibition’ in Japan. At the Fujisankei Biennale in 1993, he was awarded the Rodin Prize for his work exhibited in the Hakone/Utsukushi-ga-hara Open Air Museum, Japan.

Lee was invited to participate in ‘Thinking Big: 21st Century British Sculpture’ at the Guggenheim in Venice’, the Beijing Art Biennale in 2008 and 2010 and also Cairo Biennale. He was one of five international sculptors to attend the ’11th International Steel Sculptors Symposium’ in Hungary. His sculptures are represented in public and private collections across the globe, including Yuzi Paradise Sculpture Park, Guilin, China, The Hakone/Utsukushi-ga-hara Open Air Museum, Japan, Changsha City, Qingdao, Goodwood Sculpture, UK, The Memorial Rose Garden, Shanghai Sculpture Park, Chin Pao San, Taipei, Taiwan, Dunaujvaros Sculpture Park, Hungary, Cementerio Carretas, Putaendo Sculpture Park, Chile, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Bozhou Sculpture Park, Anhui Province,Wuhai, Wuhottot Inner Mongolia, Wuhu Sculpture Park, Anhui Province, Lan Wan Art Park, Qingdao, Shandong and many others in the United States.

Lee is a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Research Excellence Award at UNCG, Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award from the Southeastern College Art Conference, NC Visual Artists Fellowship, NC Arts Council Regional Hub Grant, Outstanding Prize at the 1st Yuzi Paradise International Sculpture Exhibition,  Merit Prize at the International Horticultural Exposition, Qingdao. 2015 Excellence Prize, The 5th Lui Kaiqu Award International Sculpture Exhibition, Anhui Province

He has lectured and placed large outdoor sculptures all over China. In addition, he continues to exhibit in the USA, UK, Europe and the Far East. Lee currently resides in the United States and is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Articles with Billy Lee

Light of the Flourishing Age

LYU, SHAOFAN is a contemporary artist and Professor at The Fine Arts Academy of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. His recent monumental public sculpture, ‘Light of the Flourishing Age’, is an excellent example of the current mode of collaborative thinking, development and experimentation combining art, science and technology which is taking place all over China today. His project was the first landscape sculpture directly associated with high-speed trains, known as ‘Gaotie’, in China. In this article, professor and sculptor Billy Lee, discusses the development and creation of this public sculpture.