South Korean artist Lee Seung Koo was born in 1979, and studied Free Sculpting at Seoul’s Chung-Ang University before moving to Germany in 2003 to continue studying art in Kiel and Stuttgart. During this time he met his wife, and the couple eventually moved to her native Beijing. 

The feelings Lee experienced living abroad, such as the alienation felt during the process of struggling to adapt to various environments, have significantly influenced his art, providing the inspiration for the creation of his key character DDINGGU, a white bull terrier that appears in his sculptures and paintings. Lee experienced upheaval in the sense of his identity through such experiences, and often faced setbacks as well as various prejudices in the process of his assimilation. The terrier is thus an embodiment of freedom and child-like innocence that is often left behind during the transition from youth to adulthood, while its name is inspired by Lee’s own childhood nickname.

In Lee's series Superheroes, DDINGGU impersonates various iconic comic book characters like Superman and Captain America, which he likens to the process of entering adulthood and having to be as mature as is expected by society. 

Lee's works are a social commentary expressed in the most whimsical of ways, as his anthropomorphic works explore the common yet conflicting human experience of balancing societal responsibilities with an individual urge for freedom. Through his whimsical works Lee aims to recapture the joy of childhood, and to serve as a reminder to always be free and genuine in life.