Lee Ufan
Artist Cv
Painter, sculptor, writer and philosopher Lee Ufan came to prominence in the late 1960's as one of the major theoretical and practical proponents of the avant-garde Mono-ha (Object School) group. The Mono-ha school of thought was Japan's first contemporary art movement to gain international recognition. It rejected Western notions of representation, focusing on the relationships of materials and perceptions rather than on expression or intervention. The artists of Mono-ha present works made of raw physical materials that have barely been manipulated.
In 1991 Lee Ufan began his series of Correspondance paintings, which consist of just one or two grey-blue brushstrokes, made of a mixture of oil and crushed stone pigment, applied onto a large white surface. His sculptural series Relatum is equally minimal: each work is comprised of one or more light-colored round stones and dark, rectangular iron plates. The dialectical relationship between the brushstroke and the canvas is mimicked in the relationship between the stone and the iron plate. In Ufan's installations space is at the same time untouched and engaged, at the confines between doing and non-doing. The relationship between painted / unpainted and occupied / empty space lies at the heart of Lee Ufan's practice.
Lee Ufan divides his time between Kamakura, Japan and Paris, France
Artist Contact
Sales Enquiries: Michelle D'Souza michelle@lissongallery.com +44 (0)20 7535 3452
Artist Images
Correspondance, 2004 Installation View Lisson Gallery January 2004
Relatum - Discussion, 2003 Four iron plates and four stones Stones 50 x 60 cm
Correspondence, 1996 Oil on canvas 146 x 195 cm
Relatum - Residence, 1988 Iron plate and stone plates 220 x 200 x 1 cm
Relatum, 1979-96 Iron and Stone 240 x 200.5 x 270 cm
From Line, 1977 Glue on canvas 130 x 163 cm
From Point, 1973 Glue on canvas 163 x 130 cm