ART CITIES:N.York-Lee Ufan

Mono-ha began as a sculpture movement, but Lee Ufan extended its literalness to painting. Loading his brush, he patted marks in a row until the paint was exhausted, then dipped the brush again and repeated. He took the same approach with lines continued until the brush was empty. Through the years Lee’s concept has been consistent, but scale, composition, color and control have varied in the paintings, which have grown larger and more spacious. His recent examples, just as physical, are expanses of emptiness featuring a single heavy stroke made with a wide brush.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive

Nowadays Lee Ufan needs no introduction, in many ways, his practice is a metaphor for the austere simplicity and philosophical point of view that the artist embodies in his work. His paintings in a reduced vocabulary, offer the viewer a unique perspective on the nature of the painting process and provoke an intense spiritual response. Lee Ufan’s solo exhibition “Ceramics” at Pace in New York reveals a lesser side of his work, is the first exhibition of of the artist’s ceramic works in North America. The works in this exhibition were made in conjunction with the Manufacture de Sèvres. Although the artist has been working with ceramics since the ‘70s, he first discovered Manufacture de Sèvres, an atelier outside of Paris renowned for its production of porcelain and its longstanding history of working with artists in 1996. The works of the exhibition is the result of a two-year collaboration with Manufacture de Sèvres, which began in 2014. For this exhibition, Lee continues to demonstrate his philosophical concerns regarding materiality and existence, imbuing a sense of respectful intervention to the essential properties of the medium of clay. At the same time, it is the artist’s encounter with fire, an unconcerned participant yet a vital link to the process that creates a sense of phenomenon to the works. New works on porcelain tiles show a use of color and brush that recalls the artist’s “Dialogue” series. In contrast, Lee’s terracotta works disrupt the three-dimensional surface in a variety of ways, creating an interplay between perception and space. Also on view is a sculpture made entirely of broken fragments and powder from ceramic works that were intentionally shattered. The amassing of these broken elements is topped with a “perfect” vessel, which at once depicts destruction and creation through the passage of time.

Info: Pace Gallery, 32 East 57th Street, New York, Duration: 9/3-8/4/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.pacegallery.com