Lee Ufan: Quiet Resonance is profoundly experiential. The exhibition comprises a series of newly created, site-specific works by Lee Ufan including: four Response paintings spanning 2022-2024; a charcoal wall drawing; four Relatum sculptures that combine natural and industrial objects; and an outdoor installation of stones located on the grass of the entry forecourt to the Art Gallery’s South Building, Naala Nura.
Widely considered one of the most well-known and influential Korean artists working today, Lee Ufan (b.1936) lives and works between Kamakura, Japan and Paris, France. In 1956, after only two months studying painting in Seoul, he relocated to Tokyo to study philosophy. In the 1960s he was a founder of Japan’s Mono-ha (School of Things) and was also associated with the Dansaekhwa monochrome painting movement that emerged in Korea in the 1950s.
Known for his highly reductive, minimalist aesthetic, Lee Ufan is also a writer, poet and philosopher who embraces a wide range of perspectives including Zen and Confucian thought and classical and modern European philosophy alongside aesthetic ideas of emptiness. Central to Lee’s work is the relationship between natural and industrial materials, and by extension the object and the viewer. Lee states, “My art is not a representation of me. It is born from relationships between ‘I’ and ‘other’ – results of interactions between what I make and what I do not make…” It is his use of simple materials, including stone, steel and canvas, that creates a quiet force, encouraging contemplation of the physical and intellectual self.
It should come as no surprise that the artist has three museums dedicated to his work around the world: Space Lee Ufan in Busan, Korea; Lee Ufan Museum on Naoshima Island, Japan, and the recently opened Lee Ufan Arles in France, the latter two designed in collaboration with leading Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Lee elaborates on the context surrounding varying presentations of his work, “My biggest interest lies in space, but space these days is quite vague, it is very abstract. In architecture space plays a critical role – positive, negative. When I design anything, different cities require a different vibe or ambiance depending on the location, an understanding of the uniqueness of the place and city – whether it be Tokyo, New York or Sydney.”
In Quiet Resonance, the placement of each work in relation to the dynamics of space is key. Lee designed the exhibition spaces and lighting himself, in collaboration with Melanie Eastburn, Senior Curator of Asian Art. “Each space has its own experience,” says Eastburn.
In conceptualising the exhibition’s design in the Asian Galleries, Lee posits, “Australia is a southern, bright land with open spaces – the inside is linked to the outside. The sense of space is important in the gallery and has been created through my understanding of Australia – a white cube linked to the outside, a place. Viewers can feel the openness, the freshness.”
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Despite the artist’s meticulous curation and design of his exhibition, Lee is also open to impromptu experimentation. In direct response to his time in Sydney, outside the gallery, Lee created a new installation titled Relatum – stone family (2024) which comprises large boulders sourced from NSW placed on grass. Lee painted one red, and another blue, in contrast to the remaining cluster with their natural surfaces. In addition to this, Lee also created a charcoal wall drawing of three long lines, two are horizontal and one is vertical. There is a confidence of gesture, and lightness of touch; the ephemeral black charcoal contrasts the painted white wall, drawing our attention to the positive and negative space created.
A highlight of the exhibition is Relatum – position (1968/2024), featuring a granite rock sourced from Murrumbateman, NSW that is placed on a large square of oiled steel. The combination of these disparate objects heightens their individual character, energy and specificity. Lee has been exploring this concept since the 1970s, stating, “Space has a physical energy. The exhibition and artwork is locational in energy. Viewers can feel energy or strength coming from the space, not just the work itself. You can feel the vitality of the work and the surrounds; it then becomes architecture.”
The major installation Relatum – to heaven road, 2024 is situated in a semi-enclosed space. Small stones in soft grey and neutral tones fill the floor of the space and surround a mirrored road that curves upwards towards the sky. On top and throughout larger brown boulders are placed, pulling the surrounding space into their path. Lee refers to this as “the infinite flow of power”, a tension or vibration of energy where the spirit of presence is present. Audiences can walk over the stones and the immediate sound of gentle crunching underfoot transports you to a Japanese garden or forest trail. Bringing you back into the gallery space is your reflection seen in the mirrored surface of the road.
In a final act of sublime transcendence, Lee exhibits four new paintings in his ongoing series known as Response. Of significant scale, white canvases are painted with one or two brushstrokes. Lee describes the physical act of painting as, “with a paint-soaked brush in hand, I hold my breath and drive down a line.” These fastidious paintings draw attention to both the pristine bare surface and the brushstroke or abstract form where colours chromatically shift from light to dark through the spectrum.
Lee hopes viewers will bring their own perspective to his work. He states, “I want the objects to have a vibration; a space or place that is open and not limited, where people can converse. It is not about expressing everything. By not expressing, people can breathe and be in harmony with the surroundings.” Quiet Resonance offers important respite; an exhibition where one can look, take pause and reflect and enjoy the rare opportunity of experiencing the masterful presence of the refined art of Lee Ufan.
Exhibition Information:
Lee Ufan: Quiet Resonance
Art Gallery of New South Wales | Naala Nura
31 August 2024 – September 2025
