Lee Ufan
Artist Spotlight
Lee Ufan: The Master of Resonant Silence
In 2023, the Lisson Gallery in London mounted a quietly commanding exhibition of Lee Ufan's recent paintings and sculptures, reminding a new generation of collectors why this Korean born, Tokyo educated philosopher turned artist remains one of the most vital figures in postwar and contemporary art. Visitors moved through the space slowly, drawn into the particular quality of attention his work demands, a sense that looking is itself a form of listening. The show was emblematic of a career that has unfolded over six decades with remarkable consistency of purpose and ever deepening… Continue reading
Artists in conversation
Yves Klein
Klein shared Lee Ufan's devotion to monochrome surfaces and the philosophical weight of minimal gesture, treating the canvas as a field of meditative presence rather than representational imagery.
Cy Twombly
Twombly's sparse, gestural mark making on open fields of canvas resonates closely with Lee Ufan's brush strokes that fade and breathe, imbuing each mark with contemplative silence.
Robert Ryman
Ryman's radical focus on the materiality of paint and the minimal gesture on white surfaces parallels Lee Ufan's interest in the relationship between pigment, support, and the void surrounding each mark.
Artists who inspired them
Kishio Suga
As a fellow Mono ha participant, Suga reinforced Lee Ufan's thinking about raw materials placed in dialogue with surrounding space rather than transformed by the artist's hand.
Lucio Fontana
Fontana's Spatialism and his treatment of the canvas as a physical object punctuated by cuts and voids were formative references for Lee Ufan's conception of painting as an act that activates empty space.