Chandle Lee
My work exists at the intersection of structure and soul—exploring how the spaces we build shape the way we live, connect, and feel. Born in Malaysia, educated in the U.S., and now rooted in Brooklyn, I bring a cross-cultural perspective to every canvas: architecture not merely as form, but as a living narrative of human experience.
I paint to uncover the poetry in the everyday—the way light falls on a city corner, the quiet tension between a building's geometry and the life that moves through it. My process blends discipline with intuition, drawing from architectural training while embracing the fluidity and imperfection of oil on canvas. Materials and techniques serve not as ends in themselves, but as a visual language that invites pause, curiosity, and reflection.
Ultimately, I believe art is a bridge—between cultures, between ideas, between what we see and what we feel. I create to spark conversation, challenge assumptions, and remind us that the world is more intricate, more beautiful, and more connected than we often allow ourselves to imagine.
BIOGRAPHY
Chandle Lee is a Malaysian-born, Brooklyn-based artist whose work bridges the precision of architecture with the expressive freedom of painting. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Arizona State University and a Master of Architecture with distinction from the University of Michigan, where he later taught architectural drawing and rendering. He also taught at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco while practicing architecture in the Bay Area, New York City, and Shanghai—immersing himself in the very structures that would later inspire his art.
A move to New York City in 2005 marked the beginning of a creative awakening. Drawn to the city's energy, Chandle began transitioning from designing buildings to painting them, honing his craft at the renowned Art Students League of New York. The path was not always straight. The 2008 recession and a period of personal upheaval—including a divorce—brought profound change, but also clarity. In the wake of loss and reinvention, he chose to answer a long-held calling: to leave architecture behind and dedicate himself fully to painting.
Today, Chandle is active voice in New York City's vibrant art scene, exhibiting work that reflects his cross-cultural identity and his lifelong fascination with the relationship between the built environment and the human spirit. His paintings are held in private collections across the U.S. and abroad, and he continues to tell stories through color, form, and light—one canvas at a time.
