Lee Ufan

signed in English and dated 78; signed and titled in English on the reverse, framed

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

This work is generally in good condition. Upon close inspection, very mild abrasion is noted on the tip of the mineral pigment along the top edge. When examined under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
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Entering a Brilliant World
Lee Ufan

In a different way from athletes or Zen priests, I train my mind and body and discipline my behavior in order to obtain greater freedom and enter a more brilliant world. – Lee Ufan¹

From Line (Lot 1077) is a supremely masterful iteration of Lee Ufan’s seminal eponymous series (1973-1984). Meticulously staging the transfixing austere elegance and compelling performativity for which the eminent Korean master is known for and revered, Lee’s luminous cobalt strokes cascade in perfect melodic symmetry as they journey down the surface of the painting. Equal importance is placed on the careful inception of each mark, their focused passages as well as the sacred areas of quiet pause and silence that emerge between them, evoking poetic sensibilities reminiscent of John Cage as well as the meditative restraint of Eastern calligraphy. Exquisite and absorbing in its powerful simplicity, From Line constitutes a commanding visual and philosophical amalgamation of the diverse creative landscapes of the second half of the 20th century, standing testament to Lee’s unparalleled and globally revered oeuvre.

Lee’s decade-long From Line series commenced shortly after the artist’s involvement in the pioneering sculptural Mono-ha (“School of Things”) movement in Japan and coincides with his prominent association with the enormously influential Korean Dansaekhwa (“Monochrome”) group in the 1970s. Forging a truly sensational Korean monochrome aesthetic whilst embodying the artist’s scholarly philosophical ruminations on materiality, space and time, From Line traces a stunning visual record of the irreversible ephemerality of matter and existence. Each drawn-out line dissipates into nothingness as the artist expels the last of his breath; in adherence to the one-stroke tradition of Eastern calligraphy, no corrections or touch-ups are allowed. Lee explains: “Because each mark and brushstroke, which creates its own space-time, has a strong presence, I cannot be permitted to paint over, to touch it up. Each moment of time occurs only once, but because everything is a continuation of single moments, it is necessary for them to repeat and resonate with each other”.²

For Lee, the sacred line represents the universal starting point for all artistic praxes; from Western oil painting to Eastern ink calligraphy. In order to accentuate the beginning and end of each decisive and measured stroke, Lee mixes ground mineral pigments with nikawa animal-skin glue such that the impact, weight and journey of each line is visibly demarcated and defined. The artist once said: “A line must have a beginning and an end. Space appears within the passage of time, and when the process of creating space comes to an end, time also vanishes”.³ The pristine contrast between vivid blue and raw canvas highlights the inherent binary between presence and absence, while each gradual fade to invisibility creates a balance in which negative and positive space occupy a non-hierarchical harmony. The yellow of the unpainted areas “convey a sense of the natural”⁴ whilst also alluding to the Buddhist notion of ‘nothingness’; the artist refers to this as yohaku, or the art of emptiness.

Standing before the current lot is thus a solitary, meditative and profoundly liberating experience—one that focuses the viewer on the transience of his own existence and the subtle rise and fall of his own breath. Embodying unmatched poetry, an enchanting minimalism and a uniquely personal philosophy, From Line evidences a rigorously disciplined physical and mental exercise that attests to a lifetime of study and meditation. Born in South Korea, Lee studied the traditional arts of oil painting and calligraphy in Seoul before moving to Tokyo to study Eastern and Western philosophy. Following graduation, Lee trained in traditional Japanese nihonga painting whilst continuing to develop hybridised philosophical concepts from the East and the West, gaining indisputable global prominence through acclaimed exhibitions as well as prolific scholarly writings. With a repertoire that includes the retrospective “Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity” at the Guggenheim Museum in 2011, a solo exhibition at the Palace of Versailles in 2014 as well as works that belong to the esteemed collections of the Guggenheim, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Tate Gallery, Lee Ufan’s elegant integration of Eastern and Western teaching, in both philosophy and artistic practice, is truly incomparable and legendary throughout the history of contemporary art.

¹ The artist cited in Lee Ufan, exh. cat. Pace Wildenstein, New York, 2008, p. 8

² Lee Ufan, The Art of Encounter, ed. Jean Fisher, London, 2004, p. 202

³ Lee Ufan quoted in: Jean Fischer, ed., Selected Writings by Lee Ufan 1970-96, London, 1996, p. 54

⁴ Interview with the artist by Joan Kee, author of Contemporary Korean Art: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008, p. 149