Lee Gil Rae was born in Yeongam-gun, South Korea in 1961.

He graduated with bachelor and masters degrees in fine art and sculpture from Kyunghee University in Seoul, Korea. For the past twenty years, Lee has followed nature as his muse, crafting intricate, organic, tree-form sculptures from steel and copper pipes, in response to continued deforestation, depletion of natural resources and environment crisis. Lee Gil Rae's trees are made with permanence in mind. They have become an artificial simulation of nature, urbanized and visionary, transforming the physical properties of plant life into modern, mechanical forms.

Lee Gil-Rae has participated in numerous exhibitions worldwide and features in numerous private and public collections.