Korean painter, sculptor, and philosopher Lee Ufan became famous in the late 1960s as one of the main representatives of the Japanese avant-garde movement Mono-ha. This important movement, which gained a lot of international recognition, rejected Western concepts of representation and focused on the relationships between materials and perception. The main goal of Mono-ha was to embrace the peaceful coexistence of numerous beings, concepts, and experiences, which is evident in Lee Ufan’s paintings and sculptures. As a writer, Ufan has expressed the artistic concepts in Japan during the late 60s and he posed some truly fundamental questions, such as – what does it mean to produce a work of art at the end of the twentieth century? [1]
Lee Ufan was born in 1936, in South Kyongsang province in Korea. He was interested in fine arts since his early childhood and he decided to enroll at the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University. However, painting wasn’t his only passion – young Ufan was equally fascinated by philosophy, which made him move to Yokohama, Japan in 1956, where he studied philosophy at Nihon University. Since Ufan continued his education in Japan, he started painting in a traditional Japanese style while studying philosophy. When it comes to the contemporary Japanese Gutai school which was popular at the time, Ufan wasn’t interested in this form of expressive abstraction. In the late 1960s, the artist became an important member of the avant-garde Mono-ha movement which abandoned the typical Western practices of media manipulation in order to explore the depth of the relationship between various things and their surroundings. Moho-ha members often used raw physical materials in their work and their minimalism was an expression of de-westernization and de-modernisation, typical for the postwar Japanese society.
In the early 70s, for the occasion of Paris Youth Biennale, Mono-ha was introduced to Europe and this led to international recognition of Ufan’s artworks. Around the same time, he has opened his own studio in Paris. After Mono-ha became more popular in Europe, it became evident that it has a lot in common with Arte Povera, which also concentrates on the use of natural and found materials. When it comes to the nature of Lee Ufan’s work, it revolves around austere simplicity, minimalism and philosophical points of view. His abstract brushstrokes offer a unique perspective on the very nature of painting process and the same goes for his sculptures which investigate the very essence of steel and large stone pieces. One of the artist’s most famous series is called Relatum and it portrays the interaction between space and objects while simultaneously engaging the viewers in contemplation about the meaning of art. In 1991, he began his another iconic series called Correspondance, which consist of simple grey or blue brushstrokes applied onto a pristine white surface.
Lee Ufan had a long and prosperous career when it comes to academic jobs as well – he worked as a professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo for more than 30 years. In the meantime, his artworks became a part of the prestigious permanent collection at the Hiroshima City Museum and he participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including important shows at New York Pace Wildenstein and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.[2] Lee Ufan’s first solo exhibition was held in Japan in 1967 and after this successful debut, he was invited to participate in Documenta VI show in Kassel, Germany and in the Bienal de São Paulo. In 1997, Ufan had a major solo exhibit at the Jeu de Paume Paris, while in 2001 the Kunstmuseum Bonn held an important retrospective of his works. His most notable success happened during 2007 Venice Biennale, when his Resonance exhibition became widely appraised by both critiques and audience. Nowadays, Ufan’s paintings sell for six-figure sums at auctions. For example, his work from 1984 featuring a series of blue lines was sold for $410,000 at Sotheby’s in New York.
Ufan’s minimalist installations and sculptures which emphasize the relationship between the artworks, the viewer, and the space seem timeless in their simplicity and universal appeal. The same goes for his paintings, which resemble Asian calligraphy because of the interplay of bold line strokes and plain backgrounds. Ufan was honoured for having contributed to the development of contemporary art in Japan, which speaks about the extraordinary importance and quality of his pieces.[3]
The artist is represented by Pace Gallery Beijing, Pace Gallery Hong Kong, Pace Gallery London, Pace Gallery Menlo Park and Scai the Bathhouse Tokyo.
Sources:
Featured image: Lee Ufan’s Portrait – image via asiasociety.org
All other images courtesy of the artist.
Year | Exhibition Title | Gallery/Museum | Solo/Group |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | When Process Becomes Form: Dansaekhwa and Korean Abstraction | Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium | Group |
2016 | Dansaekhwa & Minimalism | Blum & Poe, Los Angeles | Group |
2016 | Dansaekhwa & Minimalism | Blum & Poe, New York | Group |
2016 | Lee Ufan | Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia | Solo |
2016 | Lee Ufan | Chateau La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Reparade, France | Solo |
2015 | Lee Ufan - Solo Show | Lisson Gallery, London | Solo |
2014 | Lee Ufan - One Man Show | Gary Tatintsian Gallery Inc., Moscow | Solo |
2014 | Lee Ufan - Solo Exhibit | Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo | Solo |
2014 | The Hara Museum Collection | 35 Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo | Group |
2014 | From All Sides: Tansaekhwa On Abstraction | Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2014 | Botero, Ufan Lee, Tschang-Yeul Kim | Galerie Bhak, Seoul | Group |
2014 | B L A N K _ S P A C E (Group Exhibition) | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Group |
2014 | The Art of Dansaekhwa | Kukje Gallery, Seoul | Group |
2014 | Friendly Takeover | MARTa Herford, Herford | Group |
2014 | Formes simples | Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz | Group |
2014 | Genius Loci – Spirit of Place | Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice | Group |
2014 | Other Primary Structures. Others 2 | The Jewish Museum of New York, New York City, NY | Group |
2014 | Korean Beauty: Two Kinds of Nature | National Museum Of Contemporary Art Korea,Seoul | Group |
2014 | Mingei are your here? | The Pace Gallery - 508 West 25th Street, New York City, NY | Group |
2014 | 1970 | Arario Gallery Cheonan, Cheonan-si | Group |
2014 | The Artistic Spirits of Modern Artists on Paper | Gallery Hyundai, Seoul | Group |
2014 | Making Links: 25 years | SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo | Group |
2013 | Lee Ufan - Solo Show | Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris | Solo |
2013 | Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method | Wellside Gallery, Seoul | Group |
2013 | Mingei: Are You Here? | Pace London, London | Group |
2013 | Takahashi Collection Mindfulness! | Sapporp Art Museum, Sapporo, Hokkaido | Group |
2013 | Word + Work | Galerie nächst St. Stephan - Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna | Group |
2013 | Takahashi Collection Mindfulness! | Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima | Group |
2013 | Art Arch Hiroshima 2013 | Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, Hiroshima | Group |
2013 | Setouchi Triennale 2013 | Setouchi Triennale, Takamatsu | Group |
2013 | Black & White. Reason and Passion | Lorenzelli Arte, Milan | Group |
2012 | Galleria Grafica Collection No.20 | Galleria Grafica Tokyo, Tokyo | Group |
2012 | Without Shape a Thinking Format that Transcends the Medium | Da Xiang Art Space, Taichung | Group |
2012 | Aufbruch - Malerei Und Realer Raum | Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock | Group |
2012 | Play it again, Sam | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Group |
2012 | Aufbruch | Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg | Group |
2012 | Summer Group Show | The Pace Gallery - 32 East 57th Street, New York City, NY | Group |
2012 | Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-ha | Gladstone Gallery - New York, New York City, NY | Group |
2012 | Aufbruch. Malerei und realer Raum | AdK - Akademie der Künste, Berlin | Group |
2012 | The Persistence of Pollock | Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY | Group |
2012 | Dansaekhwa: Korean Monochrome Painting | National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea - Gwacheon, Gwacheon | Group |
2012 | 2012-1 Building: Art in Relation to Architecture | Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art,Hiroshima | Group |
2012 | Asia Week at Pace Prints | Pace Prints, New York City, NY | Group |
2012 | The virtue of design furniture | Hakgojae - Sokyuk, Seoul | Group |
2012 | Requiem For The Sun: The Art Of Mono-ha | Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2012 | Group Exhibition | Lisson Gallery Milan, Milan | Group |
2012 | Aufbruch - Malerei und realer Raum | Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern | Group |
2012 | Master Drawings New York | Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY | Solo |
2011 | Painting and Sculpture | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg | Solo |
2011 | Lee U-Fan | Gallery A-zone, Okayama | Solo |
2011 | Lee Ufan | SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo | Solo |
2011 | Recent Editions | Pace Prints, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | Beijing Voice 2011: Leaving Realism Behind | Pace Beijing, Beijing | Group |
2011 | The Breath of Master | Galerie Bhak, Seoul | Group |
2011 | Tell me Tell me: Australian and Korean art 1976-2011 | National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea, Gwacheon | Group |
2011 | A Dream of Eternity: The Artist Long Time East - Villa Empain | Boghossian Foundation,Brussels | Group |
2011 | Art Against Trafficking In Women And Sexual Exploitation | Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne,Lucerne | Group |
2011 | A Brushstroke | Hakgojae - Sokyuk, Seoul | Group |
2011 | Pure Clay | RH Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | Personal Structures | 54. Biennale di Venezia - Global Art Affairs Foundation, Leiden | Group |
2011 | The World Belongs to You | Palazzo Grassi - Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice | Group |
2011 | Silence and Time | Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX | Group |
2011 | Colour moves Surface | Lorenzelli Arte, Milan | Group |
2011 | Nam June Paik . Lee U Fan | Song Art Gallery, Seoul | Group |
2011 | Shelter - Art Against Trafficking in Women and Sexual Exploitation | Peter Freeman, Inc., New York City, NY | Group |
2010 | Lee Ufan - Resonance | Galería Elvira González, Madrid | Solo |
2010 | Micro salon 60 | BTAP (Beijing Tokyo Art Projects), Tokyo | Group |
2010 | Expanding Art | Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu City | Group |
2010 | The Vision of Contemporary Art | Artsonje Museum, Gyeongju Bomun | Group |
2010 | Tauba Auerbach, Matthew Day Jackson, R.H. Quaytman, etc… | Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris | Group |
2010 | Collector's Favorite | Gallery Hyundai, Seoul | Group |
2010 | Painting, Process and Expansion | Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig - MUMOK , Vienna | Group |
2010 | Red | Johyun Gallery, Seoul | Group |
2010 | Personal Structures: Time – Space – Existence | Georg Kargl Fine Arts & Georg Kargl Box,Vienna | Group |
2010 | Collection Exhibition First Term | Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Aichi | Group |
2010 | Old & new | Johyun Gallery, Seoul | Group |
2010 | Colorless Colors | Hakgojae - Sokyuk, Seoul | Group |
2010 | Personal Structures | Time - Space - Existence | Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis BV:BKV,Bregenz | Group |
2010 | Art for You | Leeahn Gallery, Daegu | Group |
2009 | Lee Ufan - Painting and Sculpture | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris | Solo |
2009 | Lee Ufan - Sculpture | Kukje Gallery, Seoul | Solo |
2009 | Doubou Doushi | Museum Haus Kasuya, Yokosuka-city | Group |
2009 | Essential Experiences - Palazzo Riso | Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo | Group |
2009 | 15th Anniversary Inaugural Exhibition | Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2009 | Minimal Means | Initial Access Frank Cohen Collection, Wolverhampton | Group |
2009 | Lisson Presents 5 | Lisson Gallery, London | Group |
2009 | Four Stories : Paths to Japanese Modern Art | Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Chiba | Group |
2009 | Boule to Braid | Lisson Gallery, London | Group |
2009 | A Walk in the Park: Outdoor Sculpture | PaceWildenstein - The Pace Gallery - 545 West 22nd Street, New York City, NY | Group |
2009 | In-finitum | Palazzo Fortuny, Venice | Group |
2009 | Kim Tschang Yeul, Park Seo-Bo, Lee Ufan | Johyun Gallery, Busan | Group |
2008 | Lee U Fan - Solo Show | 123 Gallery, Seoul | Solo |
2008 | Contemporary Art for 30 years PART 1 | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Group |
2008 | Paik Namjune, Lee Woohwan | Gallery Mano, Seoul | Group |
2008 | Mediation Biennale 08 | Mediations Biennale, Poznan | Group |
2008 | Summer of Contemporary Art | Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba | Group |
2008 | The Thin Line of Shadow | Galleria Davide Di Maggio, Milan | Group |
2008 | Sensitive Systems | Hakgojae - Sokyuk, Seoul | Group |
2007 | Lee Ufan Collection Exhibition | Gallery Micah, Seoul | Solo |
2007 | Lee Ufan: Correspondence Paintings 1995 – 2005 | Fergus McCaffrey Gallery, New York City, NY | Solo |
2007 | Modern and Contemporary Masters | Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong | Group |
2007 | Blue | Johyun Gallery, Seoul | Group |
2007 | Void in Korean Art - Leeum | Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul | Group |
2007 | Gallery Road To The Museum Master Piece Collection | Gallery Road to the Museum, Seoul | Group |
2007 | Fundacion shelter | Galería Carreras Múgica (former Colón XVI), Bilbao | Group |
2007 | Fundacion shelter | Galerìa Guillermo de Osma, Madrid | Group |
2007 | Selections from the Hara Museum´s Permanent Collection | Hara Museum of Contemporary Art,Tokyo | Group |
2007 | Time is always now! | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Group |
2007 | Poetry in Motion | Galerie Beyeler, Basel | Group |
2007 | What is Mono-ha? | Beijing Tokyo Art Projects, Beijing | Group |
2007 | Time Recorded | Fergus McCaffrey Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2007 | Elastic Taboos | Kunsthalle Wien (Museumsquartier),Vienna | Group |
2006 | 6th Gwangju Biennale 2006 | Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju | Group |
2006 | Motion On Paper | Ben Brown Fine Arts, London | Group |
2006 | Summertime - Reflexion - Selbstreflexion | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Group |
2006 | Und es bewegt sich doch … | Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum | Group |
2006 | Contemporary Prints Applying Photography | National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT),Tokyo | Group |
2006 | Modern Japanese Art from the Museum Collection | National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), Tokyo | Group |
2006 | 10th Anniversary Show: Vision II: 1995-2005 Collection Of The Museum | Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Aichi | Group |
2005 | The Art of Margins | Yokohama Museum of Art, Nishi-ku, Yokohama | Solo |
2005 | Contemporary art of Korea | Busan Museum of Art, Busan | Group |
2005 | Reconsidering - Mono-ha | NMAO National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka | Group |
2005 | The 35th Anniversary Exhibition - Part 2 | Gallery Hyundai, Seoul | Group |
2005 | Japanese, Korean and Chinese Art | BTAP (Beijing Tokyo Art Projects), Tokyo | Group |
2004 | Blue | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Group |
2004 | Why not live for Art? | Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo | Group |
2003 | Lee Ufan - The Search for Encounter - PLATEAU | Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul | Solo |
2003 | Tradition and Innovation | Gallery Hyundai, Seoul | Group |
2003 | Happiness - A Survival Guide for Art and Life | Mori Art Museum, Tokyo | Group |
2003 | Artsonje Collection Highlights | Artsonje Museum, Gyeongju Bomun | Group |
2003 | Kaiga | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Group |
2003 | Art of Modern Japan | National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), Tokyo | Group |
2003 | Anni '70 '80 '90 | Lorenzelli Arte, Milan | Group |
2003 | Transition | SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo | Group |
2002 | Les années 70 : l’art en cause | CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux | Group |
2002 | APT 2002 - Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 2002 | Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, QLD | Group |
2001 | Lee Ufan - Gemälde 1973 - 2001 | Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn | Solo |
2001 | Kunst für Shelter | Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden | Group |
2001 | Silence Violence | SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo | Group |
2001 | IKIRO Be alive - Contemporary art from Japan – 1980 to the present | Kröller-Müller Museum,Otterlo | Group |
2001 | Vision | Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Aichi | Group |
2001 | Shelter | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Group |
2000 | Mr. Paint | Galerie Monika Reitz, Frankfurt | Group |
2000 | 2000 Shanghai Biennale - Spirit of Shanghai | Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai | Group |
2000 | Japanese contemporary art '60-'80 | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Group |
2000 | Wood Works | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Group |
1999 | Korean Art of 50 years | Gallery Hyundai, Seoul | Group |
1999 | Kwang-Young Chun, Chan-Young Kim, Nam June Paik, Ufan Lee Korean | Galerie Conny Dietzschold, Cologne | Group |
1999 | Japanese Contemporary Prints I: Kano Mitsuo, Nakanishi Natsuyuki, Lee Ufan, Wakabayashi Isamu | Kamakura Annex, Kanagawa | Group |
1998 | Lee Ufan - Bilder und Skulpturen | Städel Museum, Frankfurt | Solo |
1995 | Lee Ufan - Entsprechungen - Setzungen | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Solo |
1990 | Lee U-Fan - Sculpture works | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Solo |
1990 | Aus der Sammlung | Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg | Group |
1990 | Bestandsaufnahme VII | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Group |
1990 | Blau - Farbe der Ferne | Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg | Group |
1989 | Europalia Japan | SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent | Group |
1989 | Drawing as itself | NMAO National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka | Group |
1985 | Lee U-Fan - Sculpture works | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Solo |
1978 | Lee Ufan - Skulpturen | Galerie m Bochum, Bochum | Solo |
1978 | Lee U-Fan - From point - From line | Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf | Solo |