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Lot Essay
"A pictorial enactment of the idea of infinity". (L. Ufan, quoted in, “Lee Ufan Works Acquired by Tate Gallery”, Tate Gallery, January 12, 1998).
An outstanding example of Lee Ufan’s painting practice, From Line belongs to the artist’s pivotal series of the same name which set the stage for a conceptual reevaluation of art in postwar Japan. Going beyond the modernist exaltation of surface and medium, Lee and artists in the Mono-ha movement collapsed the boundaries between art and the real world in an effort to more fully highlight the philosophical underpinnings of art-making while also focusing on the inherent power of unmediated materials. The From Line series, created chiefly between 1971 and 1984, were the works that brought Lee to the international stage. In conversation with abstract painters in the United States, these pieces nonetheless eschewed the machismo or vigorous gesture of their contemporaries in favor of a more meditative, nuanced examination. Lee described works like the present example as “as a pictorial enactment of the idea of infinity” (L. Ufan, quoted in, “Lee Ufan Works Acquired by Tate Gallery”, Tate Gallery, January 12, 1998). Using shades that were meant to evoke the earth or the sky, his use of crystalline pigments and traditional Japanese and Korean techniques at odds with the enamels and house painter brushes of his Western colleagues created a truly global body of work.
Applied directly to raw canvas, forty-three downward strokes in deep blue begin at the top of the composition and are pulled to the bottom as the pigment is exhausted. Set against the unadulterated surface, these marks bear some passing resemblance to historic painting traditions while remaining fully removed from representational modes. Sometimes the artist’s brush makes it to the one-third mark before little color is left while only a few times does the trail of paint extend in a ghostly line to the very bottom. Using traditional methods that involve suspending ground mineral pigment in animal-skin glue, Lee’s work hinges upon a recognition of the physical properties inherent in the materials themselves. Though decidedly non-traditional in his methods and subject matter, the artist was also heavily influenced by cultural history from his native Korea and adopted home of Japan. Alluding to the stark contrast of colors used in Joseon Dynasty blue and white wares while also borrowing brush techniques and materials from painting traditions common to both countries, he created a dialogue between the past and future of his art form.
Born in Korea, Lee came into his own as an artist in Japan where he was based for many years. Combining the artistic traditions of both cultures, he also looked toward Western developments in painting and conceptual art. In the late 1960s, he established the basis for what would become the Mono-ha (School of Things) movement in Japan. The overriding theory behind this group of artists and their works was to present objects as they are, unprocessed and unrefined according to the strictures of Modernism. Indeed, Lee wanted to go beyond what his modernist colleagues had done in the West and often problematized the role of the artist as author. He also endeavored to combine the object with the subject, negating the divide between the two. From this series of principles came four discrete series: Relatum, From Point, Correspondence, and From Line. The present example belongs to the latter grouping and exhibits a distillation of techniques that Lee learned at the beginning of his career as he was studying nihonga (Japanese-style) painting techniques.
The From Line series combined Western and Japanese painting traditions into an enthralling investigation into the very basic aspects of each. Begun in the early 1970s, Lee would start with a large canvas in the style of earlier Abstract Expressionists and would then use a soft-haired brush more commonly used in Eastern painting to paint vertical strokes upon the surface until the paint ran out. Because of the soft bristles, Lee had less control over the final look of the paint’s application but the end result emphasized the different pigments in a more focused manner. "In the beginning, the concepts for From Point/From Line were one type of a concept of infinity...to express this concept of infinity through repetition, so it was, in a sense, very conceptual. But gradually this was broken down; I began to discover a contrast between painted and unpainted areas. Infinity is not the repetition of one concept, but the combination of what is painted and not painted, and I began to think that infinity emerged from within this type of time lag" (L. Ufan, "Mugen ni tsuite/On Infinity," Lee Ufan, exh. cat., 1993, pp. 82-87). Realizing his theoretical vision on canvas, Lee became interested in exploring it further through numerous iterations of his principles. Never focused on even lines, crisp edges, or even the dexterous nature of the artist’s hand, From Line is painting in service of its materials and reflects the meditative qualities found in the observation of nature.
An outstanding example of Lee Ufan’s painting practice, From Line belongs to the artist’s pivotal series of the same name which set the stage for a conceptual reevaluation of art in postwar Japan. Going beyond the modernist exaltation of surface and medium, Lee and artists in the Mono-ha movement collapsed the boundaries between art and the real world in an effort to more fully highlight the philosophical underpinnings of art-making while also focusing on the inherent power of unmediated materials. The From Line series, created chiefly between 1971 and 1984, were the works that brought Lee to the international stage. In conversation with abstract painters in the United States, these pieces nonetheless eschewed the machismo or vigorous gesture of their contemporaries in favor of a more meditative, nuanced examination. Lee described works like the present example as “as a pictorial enactment of the idea of infinity” (L. Ufan, quoted in, “Lee Ufan Works Acquired by Tate Gallery”, Tate Gallery, January 12, 1998). Using shades that were meant to evoke the earth or the sky, his use of crystalline pigments and traditional Japanese and Korean techniques at odds with the enamels and house painter brushes of his Western colleagues created a truly global body of work.
Applied directly to raw canvas, forty-three downward strokes in deep blue begin at the top of the composition and are pulled to the bottom as the pigment is exhausted. Set against the unadulterated surface, these marks bear some passing resemblance to historic painting traditions while remaining fully removed from representational modes. Sometimes the artist’s brush makes it to the one-third mark before little color is left while only a few times does the trail of paint extend in a ghostly line to the very bottom. Using traditional methods that involve suspending ground mineral pigment in animal-skin glue, Lee’s work hinges upon a recognition of the physical properties inherent in the materials themselves. Though decidedly non-traditional in his methods and subject matter, the artist was also heavily influenced by cultural history from his native Korea and adopted home of Japan. Alluding to the stark contrast of colors used in Joseon Dynasty blue and white wares while also borrowing brush techniques and materials from painting traditions common to both countries, he created a dialogue between the past and future of his art form.
Born in Korea, Lee came into his own as an artist in Japan where he was based for many years. Combining the artistic traditions of both cultures, he also looked toward Western developments in painting and conceptual art. In the late 1960s, he established the basis for what would become the Mono-ha (School of Things) movement in Japan. The overriding theory behind this group of artists and their works was to present objects as they are, unprocessed and unrefined according to the strictures of Modernism. Indeed, Lee wanted to go beyond what his modernist colleagues had done in the West and often problematized the role of the artist as author. He also endeavored to combine the object with the subject, negating the divide between the two. From this series of principles came four discrete series: Relatum, From Point, Correspondence, and From Line. The present example belongs to the latter grouping and exhibits a distillation of techniques that Lee learned at the beginning of his career as he was studying nihonga (Japanese-style) painting techniques.
The From Line series combined Western and Japanese painting traditions into an enthralling investigation into the very basic aspects of each. Begun in the early 1970s, Lee would start with a large canvas in the style of earlier Abstract Expressionists and would then use a soft-haired brush more commonly used in Eastern painting to paint vertical strokes upon the surface until the paint ran out. Because of the soft bristles, Lee had less control over the final look of the paint’s application but the end result emphasized the different pigments in a more focused manner. "In the beginning, the concepts for From Point/From Line were one type of a concept of infinity...to express this concept of infinity through repetition, so it was, in a sense, very conceptual. But gradually this was broken down; I began to discover a contrast between painted and unpainted areas. Infinity is not the repetition of one concept, but the combination of what is painted and not painted, and I began to think that infinity emerged from within this type of time lag" (L. Ufan, "Mugen ni tsuite/On Infinity," Lee Ufan, exh. cat., 1993, pp. 82-87). Realizing his theoretical vision on canvas, Lee became interested in exploring it further through numerous iterations of his principles. Never focused on even lines, crisp edges, or even the dexterous nature of the artist’s hand, From Line is painting in service of its materials and reflects the meditative qualities found in the observation of nature.