ART-PRESENTATION: Lee Ufan at Château La Coste

Artist, critic, philosopher, and poet, Lee Ufan emerged as one of the founders and major proponents of Mono-ha, the the Tokyo-based Movement of young artists from the late ‘60s through the early ’70s. Mono-ha was Japan’s first internationally recognized contemporary art movement, rejecting Western notions of representation and emphasizing materials and perception and interrelationships between space and matter.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Château La Coste Archive

Lee Ufan built a body of artistic achievement across a wide range of mediums (painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation art, and art criticism) and had a major impact on the development of South Korean art in the ‘70s. In the late ‘80s he began receiving international recognition through exhibitions around the world. His artistic reputation was strengthened even more in the ‘90s with Mono-ha’s resurgent popularity in Europe and Japan. In June 2011 he became the third East Asian artist to be given a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The exhibition confirmed his position as a leading figure in the contemporary art world. The paintings and sculptures of Lee Ufan’s solo exhibition at Château La Coste are intended to reinforce the permanent commission unveiled at the château in 2014, “House of Air”, where previous commissions have included exhibitions and installations by Louise Bourgeois, Richard Serra and Tatsuo Miyajima, along with architectural pavilions and structures by Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando and Jean Nouvel. In “House of Air”, the finely crushed stone that Lee mixes with his paints physically connects his two-dimensional works with his three-dimensional sculptures. In contrast to the artist’s carefully wrought paintings, the sculptures consist of objects to which, pointedly, no artistic action has been applied, offering instead a space for the contemplation of non-productivity and a rare moment of silent, solo interaction with a work of art. Lee’s new works will be housed in a Gallery designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, housed in the château old wine storehouse. Designed to resonate with the tranquil surrounds of the majestic estate, this exhibition hopes to entice audiences, in Lee’s own words, to “Lead people’s eyes to emptiness and turn their eyes to silence”.

Info: Château La Coste, 2750 Route De La Cride, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, Duration: 29/5-24/9/16, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-19:00, http://chateau-la-coste.com