ART CITIES:N.York-Lee Ufan

Lee Ufan emerged as one of the leading figures of the Japanese Avant-Garde group Mono-ha, in the late 1960s. Emphasizing the relationships between space, perception, and object, his works develop from an appreciation of nature and the inherent qualities of his materials. Combining artistic practice with philosophical writing, Lee’s oeuvre is characterized by thoughtful and direct iterations of gestures, engaging the viewer in contemplation of abstract forms and vivid restraint, manifesting in sculpture, paintings, works on paper, and ceramics.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive

Lee Ufan in his solo exhibition at Pace Gallery presents fourteen paintings that are a continuation of his “Dialogue” series, also the show the first time that Lee Ufan presents exclusively color “Dialogue” paintings in a focused installation. While the brushstrokes in earlier works from the series are the result of several applications of a monochromatic mineral pigment built up into a substantial single mark, these new works encompass a broad range of saturated hues. Painted in a highly controlled method, with brushstrokes that relate to the artist’s breath, the works focus on the resonance of space, color, light and tension. In the new paintings, the artist has begun to introduce gestural strokes as well as unaltered expressionistic elements, including dots and specks of paint. The unpainted canvas is as vital to the artist’s practice as the painted forms. For Lee, these undisturbed white and creamy white fields are necessary structures to allow the boundaries between the paintings and the space in which they are installed to blur, fostering a conversation from each work to the next, as well as the dialectic expression within the paintings themselves. A harmonious equilibrium and resonance between the visible and the invisible, as the artis says “A work of art is a site where places of making and not making, painting and not painting, are linked so that they reverberate with one another”. The exhibition features paintings that are among the largest Lee has ever made, including a single screen work that encompass approximately 750 cm in length. Installed by the artist in response to the existing structure of the gallery, the large-scale paintings foster an environment that the physicality of the paintings and their radiation through space, as well as encourages individualized contemplation and personal encounters with the work.

Info: Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street, New York, Duration: 14/9-13/10/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.pacegallery.com