Lee Ufan
09 Sep - 13 Nov 2010
LEE UFAN
"Resonancia"
September 9 - November 13, 2010
The Elvira González Gallery opens the season on September 9th with an one- man show by the Korean artist Lee Ufan.
Lee Ufan (Haman, South Korea, 1936) was raised by his parents and his grandfather, who was a follower of the Confucius ́s doctrine. In 1956 he moved to Japan where he studied philosophy, which in the future will become an integral part of his artistic practice.
Ufan begins his artistic career in the sixties. He is one of the founders of the Japan’s first contemporary art movement, the Mono-ha. The word Mono-ha is made up of two Japanese words Mono (thing) and ha (school).
Over time, he develops a personal language strongly influenced by critical exchanges with other artists of Mono-ha group who collectively found inspiration in the exploration of natural materials and their applications without altering their nature.
There is something timeless and ritualistic in the Ufan’s work, which is accomplished through a continuous exploration of physical concepts such as line and weight, distance and direction, time and space. As the artist states “As a pictorial decree of the idea of infinity ... it seems to me that each delineated brushstroke, each element, gradually becomes liberated from me, fully inhaling and exhaling space”
Also he affirms “If a bell is struck, the sound reverberates into the distance. Similarly, if a point filled with mental energy is painted on canvas (or a wall); it sends vibrations into the surrounding unpainted space .... 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 each other”.
The exhibition comprises six canvas, three works on paper and three ceramics made between 2007 and 2010. The works expresses the timeless idea and mental control of the artist’s hand with his brush.
Last June in the Japanese island of Naoshima the Museum Lee Ufan was opened. This small Museum, designed by the architect Tadao Ando, exhibits Lee Ufan ́s work from the seventies until today.
In June 2010 the Museum Guggenheim of New York will open a retrospective exhibition of Lee Ufan curated by Alexandra Munroe, director of the Department of Asian Art.
"Resonancia"
September 9 - November 13, 2010
The Elvira González Gallery opens the season on September 9th with an one- man show by the Korean artist Lee Ufan.
Lee Ufan (Haman, South Korea, 1936) was raised by his parents and his grandfather, who was a follower of the Confucius ́s doctrine. In 1956 he moved to Japan where he studied philosophy, which in the future will become an integral part of his artistic practice.
Ufan begins his artistic career in the sixties. He is one of the founders of the Japan’s first contemporary art movement, the Mono-ha. The word Mono-ha is made up of two Japanese words Mono (thing) and ha (school).
Over time, he develops a personal language strongly influenced by critical exchanges with other artists of Mono-ha group who collectively found inspiration in the exploration of natural materials and their applications without altering their nature.
There is something timeless and ritualistic in the Ufan’s work, which is accomplished through a continuous exploration of physical concepts such as line and weight, distance and direction, time and space. As the artist states “As a pictorial decree of the idea of infinity ... it seems to me that each delineated brushstroke, each element, gradually becomes liberated from me, fully inhaling and exhaling space”
Also he affirms “If a bell is struck, the sound reverberates into the distance. Similarly, if a point filled with mental energy is painted on canvas (or a wall); it sends vibrations into the surrounding unpainted space .... 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 each other”.
The exhibition comprises six canvas, three works on paper and three ceramics made between 2007 and 2010. The works expresses the timeless idea and mental control of the artist’s hand with his brush.
Last June in the Japanese island of Naoshima the Museum Lee Ufan was opened. This small Museum, designed by the architect Tadao Ando, exhibits Lee Ufan ́s work from the seventies until today.
In June 2010 the Museum Guggenheim of New York will open a retrospective exhibition of Lee Ufan curated by Alexandra Munroe, director of the Department of Asian Art.