Artist Bio

Tommy Lei (b. 1988, Hong Kong) is an Asian American, lens-based visual artist based in Los Angeles. His practice moves across three modes — photography, documentary, and audiovisual installation — tracing the tensions between stillness and presence, diasporic memory and belonging, the overlooked and the enduring.

Informed by Buddhist contemplative philosophy and the Taoist principle of wu wei, Lei's work turns toward the liminal — thresholds between visibility and disappearance, between what a place remembers and what it lets go. His photographs attend to the dignity of what persists: the residue of public space, the quiet insistence of the natural world, the moments that wait for someone to notice them. The work offers a form of contemplative photography — slower, quieter, and more willing to let meaning remain unresolved.

His public art and installation work has been commissioned by JPMorgan Chase, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and the City of Seattle. His photographs are held in private collections in the United States, France, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. He is a Canson Infinity ambassador and has been featured in Architectural Digest, The Hollywood Reporter, Fotografiska, and Aesthetica.

Select Press

Architectural Digest: Pasadena Showcase House 2025
Architizer: Frame Within a Frame
Broad Magazine: Snow Cows
Canson Infinity: Ambassador Profile
DIY Photography: Capturing the Inferno
Flak Photo: Spring Photos
Fotografiska: Audience, 2022
LenScratch: Fatherhood Exhibition 2026
LFI | Leica Fotografie International: Infrared Dreams
The Griffin Museum of Photography, Summer Solstice: Incandescent
The Washington Post: Los Angeles wants you back

Select Exhibits

  • MOAH: Cedar 41st Annual All-Media Exhibition
    Lancaster Museum of Art and History, CA - June 2026

  • Brand 54: Works on Paper
    Brand Art Center, Glendale, CA - June 2026

  • »horizons zingst« Environmental Photo Festival
    Baltic Sea, Germany - May 2026

  • Bit Basel Miami 2025 - Balanced Forces AR Exhibition
    South Beach, Miami, FL - December 2025

  • Eaton Fire Collaborative - Inaugural Artist Exhibition
    Altadena, CA - October 2025

  • Betsy Lueke Art Center - Juried Group Show
    Burbank, CA - October 2025

  • LMF Gallery - F/8, Inaugural Photo Show
    Sierra Madre, CA - August 2025

  • Brand 53: Works on Paper
    Brand Art Center, Glendale, CA - July 2025

  • Pasadena Museum of History - Centennial Exhibit
    Pasadena, CA - March 2025

  • Art Share LA (Perimeter Gallery) - Nature’s Pulse
    Arts District, Los Angeles, CA - December 2024

  • Carmel Photographic Center - Group Show,
    Curated by Catherine Couturier
    Carmel, CA - April 2024

  • York Art Gallery - Aesthetica Art Prize 2024 Show
    York, United Kingdom - February-April 2024

  • Gallery 881 - Rituals
    Vancouver, BC - December 2023

  • Artsy Exhibition Auction for Venice Family Clinic
    Playa Vista, CA - April 2023

  • Baldwin Avenue Gallery (BAG) - FOTO & CLAY
    Sierra Madre, CA - December 2023

  • Golden 8ours @ REALM - Faith, Hopes, and Dreams
    Chinatown, Los Angeles - November 2022

Public Art Installations and Collections

  • Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture | 2026 Selected Artist

  • Office of Arts and Culture, Seattle | 2025-2026 Selected Artist

  • 60th Pasadena Showcase House - Featured Artist

  • JP Morgan Collection

Accolades

Publications