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Lee Ufan

born 1936

Relatum 1968, 1994
? Lee Ufan
In 色控传媒

In the Studio

Free

Biography

Lee Ufan (Korean:????; Hanja:?李禹焕, Korean pronunciation: [i?uhwan]; born 1936) is a South Korean minimalist painter, sculptor, and academic, known for innovative bodies of work emphasizing process, materials, and the experiential engagement of viewer and site, and critiques of European phenomenology.

Having lived and worked in Japan for much of his professional life, Lee has been honored by the Japanese government for having "contributed to the development of contemporary art in Japan." His essay "Sonzai to mu wo koete Sekine Nobuo ron (Beyond Being and Nothingness – A Thesis on Sekine Nobuo)" is largely considered an originator of thought for the post-war Japanese art movement of Mono-ha ("School of Things") in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His writings, published in rapid succession from 1969, have sought to externalize the interface between ideas and sensibilities from the West, namely Western Europe and the United States, and those found in East Asia. Many commentators stress Lee's stated desire to escape, or refute, Western ideas of signification, for example.

As the main theorist of the Mono-ha movement in Japan, Lee was trained as a philosopher. As a painter, Lee contributed to "Korean Monotone Art" (Dansaekjo Yesul, 單色調 藝術), the first artistic movement in 20th century Korea to be promoted in Japan. His work largely advocates for a methodology of de-westernization and de-modernization in both theory and practice as an antidote to the Eurocentric thought of 1960s postwar Japanese society. A self-proclaimed wanderer and lifelong cultural border-crosser, Lee divides his time between Kamakura, Japan, and Paris, France.

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Artworks

  • From Line

    Lee Ufan
    1978
    On display at 色控传媒 part of In the Studio
  • From Winds

    Lee Ufan
    1982
  • Correspondence

    Lee Ufan
    1993
  • Relatum

    Lee Ufan
    1968, 1994
Artwork
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