Lee Ufan

Lee Ufan (b. 1936, Kyongnam, South Korea) is a painter, sculptor, writer, and philosopher who rose to prominence in the late 1960s as a leading figure of the Mono-ha (School of Things) movement in Japan. After studying calligraphy, poetry, and painting at the College of Kyongnam and the University of Seoul, Lee relocated to Japan, where he developed a body of work and critical writing that challenged Western notions of representation. Emphasising the relationships between materials, perception, and space, his philosophical and artistic contributions have earned him major accolades, including the Praemium Imperiale for Painting (2001) and the UNESCO Prize (2000). He currently lives and works between Japan, France, and South Korea.

Lee’s artistic style is defined by minimalist gestures and raw materials that engage in a dialogue with space and time. His iconic Relatum sculptures, combining natural stones and industrial steel plates, and his painting series such as From Point, From Line, Correspondence, and Dialogue, embody his investigation into the tension between action and stillness. Rooted in both Eastern and Western philosophy, Lee’s practice seeks to create a meditative space where viewers experience the interplay of presence and absence, material and void.

Lee Ufan’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Serpentine Galleries in London, Dia Beacon in the U.S., the Palace of Versailles, and the National Art Center in Tokyo. His influence has been further cemented by the opening of the Lee Ufan Museum on Naoshima Island in 2010. Through his radical rethinking of materiality, gesture, and perception, Lee has reshaped the landscape of contemporary art, bridging cultural traditions and redefining the role of the artist in relation to nature and space.