Education
1936 Born in Haman, Korea 1956 Dropped out of Seoul National University, and moved to Yokohama, Japan 1961 Graduated from Nihon University, Department of Philosophy, Tokyo 1997 Appointed guest professor at the Ecolenationalesuperieure des beaux-arts, Par
Career
Solo Exhibitions 2014 Lee Ufan, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo Lee Ufan Versailles, Chateau de Versailles, Versailles, France 2013 Dissonance, Chapelle Saint-Laurent- Le Capitole, Arles, France GalerieKamelMennour, Paris 2012 Lee Ufan: The Art of Emptiness, Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, USA Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Paintings and Sculptures, GalerieThaddaeusRopac, Salzburg, Austria Gallery A-zone, Okayama, Japan SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo Dialogue: Lee Ufan, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul 2010 Lee Ufan: Resonancia, Galeria Elvira Gonzalez, Madrid Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA 2009 Lee Ufan: Peintures et Sculptures, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Kukje Gallery, Seoul Lee Ufan: Bewegte Stille, Kunstverein Lippstadt, Lippstadt, Germany 2008 Dialogue Sea and Island: Lithographs, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels Lee Ufan: Ein Dialogue, Museen Dahlem, Berlin Pace Wildenstein, New York Lee Ufan: New Work, Lisson Gallery, London Lee Ufan: Dialogue: In Watercolors, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Resonance, 52nd Venice Biennale, Palazzo Palumbo Fossati, Venice, Italy SCAI the Bathhouse, Shiraishi Contemporary Art Inc., Tokyo Galerie Nachst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwalder, Vienna Lee Ufan: New Prints, Sho Gallery, Tokyo Lee Ufan Collection Exhibition, Gallery Micha, Seoul 2006 Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp, Belgium Lee Ufan: Terra Cotta and Watercolor on Paper, IBU Gallery, Paris Lee Ufan: Silence, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Silently: Lithographs, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Gallery Muramatsu, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Works from the Dieter & Si Rosenkranz Collection, Museen Dahlem, Berlin Kongkan Gallery, Busan, Korea 2005 Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia Lee Ufan: The Art of Margins, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan Exposition Lee Ufan, Musee d’art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Etienne Metropole, Saint-Etienne, France 2004 Lee Ufan: Peinture Sculpture, Musee d’Art Contemporain Fernet Branca, Alsace, France Lee Ufan: The Art of Encounter, Lisson Gallery, London 2003 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Lee Ufan: The Search for Encounter, Rodin Gallery, Seoul: Ho-Am Art Museum, Yongin, Korea 2002 SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo 2001 Lee Ufan: Paintings 1973-2001, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany Sigong Gallery, Daegu, Korea Shirota Gallery, Tokyo 2000 Lee Ufan: Interconnection, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1999 Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Peintures 1974-1999, Sculptures 1999, Liliane&Michel Durand-Dessert, Paris Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo 1998 Sigong Gallery, Daegu,Korea Collection II: Lee Ufan, Soh Gallery, Tokyo Eastern Gate: Aquatint, Correspondence ’98: Lithographs, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Painting and Sculpture, Stadtisches Museum im Stadel, Frankfurt, Germany Lee Ufan Print Works 1970-1998, Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Mitaka, Japan; Sapporo Art Park, Sapporo, Japan; Itami City Museum of Art, Hyogo, Japan; Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi, Japan; Nigata City Art Museum, Nigata, Japan Gallery Rho, Seoul Shirota Gallery, Tokyo 1997 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Space Shimoda, Tokyo Gallery Bhak, Seoul Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris Lee Ufan: Anche Il Vuoto Lavora, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy 1996 Lisson Gallery, London Galerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Kongkan Gallery, Busan, Korea 1995 Stadtisches Museum Leverkusen, Leverkusen, Germany Galerie de Paris, Paris Ingong Gallery, Seoul Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Correspondences-Subsidence 1994/1995, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1994 National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy 1993 Kamakura Gallery, Kamakura, Japan Lee Ufan: Works from ‘70s&’80s, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Watercolors, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan 1992 Kongkan Gallery, Busan, Korea Galerie de Paris, Paris SAGA, Grand Palais, Paris Lee Ufan: In Milano: Prints, Gallery Ueda, Tokyo 1991 Ingong Gallery, Seoul Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan Lee Ufan: With Winds ’91 at Milano, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy With Winds 1991, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo: Gallery Ueda, Tokyo 1990 Ingong Gallery, Seoul Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Lee Ufan: Sculpture Works, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Gallery Ueda, Tokyo 1989 Galerie de Paris, Paris Lee Ufan: With Winds, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo: Gallery Ueda, Tokyo From Island: Carborundums, From Port: Drypoints, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Lee Ufan: With Winds, Paintings 1986/88, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany DallaMemoria di unaCitta: Lithographs, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo 1988 Lee Ufan: Traces of Sensibility and Logic, Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan Lee Ufan: Ex Oriente, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy Galerie Anselm Dreher, Berlin 1987 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Lee Ufan: Working With Clay, Gallery Ueda, Tokyo 1986 Lee Ufan: From Winds, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Galerie de Paris, Paris Lee Ufan: Folding Screens, Gallery Ueda, Tokyo The Printworks of Lee Ufan: 1970-1986, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo 1985 Lee Ufan Sculpture Exhibition, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Studio d’Ars, Milan, Italy 1984 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul: Korea Art Gallery, Seoul Gallery Su, Seoul Galerie de Paris, Paris In the Ruins: Lithographs, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Working With Paper, Galerie Tokyo Humanite, Nagoya, Japan 1983 Lee Ufan: Paper Works,Gallery Ueda, Tokyo Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo 1982 Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy Kaneko Art Tokyo, Tokyo 1981 Lee Ufan: Watercolors, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Watercolors, Soker-Kaseman Gallery, San Francisco, USA 1980 Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo: Ueda Gallery, Tokyo Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris Gallery Ueda, Tokyo 1979 Gallery Takagi, Nagoya, Japan Marl Sculpture Museum, Marl, Germany Lee Ufan: Watercolors and Drawings, Jean Art Galllery, Seoul Gallery Muramatsu, Tokyo Lee Ufan: Drawing Exhibition, Kaneko Art Tokyo, Tokyo Lee Gallery, Daegu, Korea 1978 Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Lee Ufan: From Point-From Line, Dusseldorf Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Germany Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark Skulpturen, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Antwerp Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium From Piont, From Line: Lithographs and Watercolors, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Sculptures, Tamura Gallery, Tokyo 1977 Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris 1976 Paintings and Drawings, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Gallery Spectrum, Antwerp, Belgium Drawings, Myongdong Gallery, Seoul Kaneko Art Tokyo, Tokyo 1975 Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris Decorative Paintings, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Kaneko Art Tokyo, Tokyo 1974 Tamura Gallery, Tokyo Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris 1973 Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo 1972 Myongdong Gallery, Seoul 1971 Pinar Gallery, Tokyo Prints, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo 1970 Tamura Gallery, Tokyo 1967 Sato Gallery, Tokyo Group Exhibitions 2014 Formes simples, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France Spirit of Place, Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, Italy Korean Beauty: Two Kinds of Nature, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Other Primary Structures: Others 2, Jewish Museum, New York 2013 Mingei: Art You Here?,The Pace Gallery, London Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, The Warehouse, Dallas, USA Takahashi Collection: Mindfulness!,Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan Prima Materia, Punta Della Dogana, Venice, Italy Paradise, The Pace Gallery, New York 2012 Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-Ha, Gladstone Gallery, New York:Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA John Latham/Lee Ufan, Lisson Gallery, Milan, Italy Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde, Museum of Modern Art, New York Summer Group Show 2012,The Pace Gallery, New York Art as Magic: Visionary Artists and Their Inner Supernatural World, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan Beijing Voice: Leaving Realism Behind, The Pace Gallery, Beijing Tricks&Humor, Yokosuka Museum of Art, Yokosuka, Japan Pure Clay: Young Sook Park and Lee Ufan, RH Gallery, New York Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, The Pace Gallery, New York 54th Venice Biennale:The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy Silence and Time, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA In Praise of Doubt, Punta della Dogna, Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy The Color of Nature, Monochrome Art in Korea: Collections from the Busan Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan Personal Structures: Time-Space-Existence, Kunstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bergenz, Austria 50 Years at Pace, The Pace Gallery, New York Painting: Process and Expansion: From the 1950s to the Present Day, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna TaubaAuerbach, Matthew Day Jackson, R.H. Quaytman, etc.…, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris The Vision of Contemporary Art, Artsonje Museum, Gyeongju, Korea 2009 Painting and Its Surroundings, Galerie Nachst St. Stephan, Vienna; Palacio de los Condes de Sástago, Zaragoza, Spain Who is Afraid of Artists? A Selection of Works from the François Pinault Foundation, Palais des Arts et du Festival, Marie de Dinard, Dinard, France In-finitum, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy A Walk in the Park: Outdoor Sculpture at Pace Wildenstein, Pace Wildenstein, New York Boule to Braid: Curated by Richard Wentworth, Lisson Gallery, London Four Stories: Paths to Japanese Modern Art, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan Lisson Presents 5, Lisson Gallery, London 15th Anniversary Inaugural Exhibition, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA Essential Experiences, RISO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo, Italy 2008 Sensitive Sytems- Lee Ufan, Roman Opalka, Giuseppe Penone, Gunther Uecker, Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul The Thin Line of Shadow: Lee Ufan, Gunther Uecker, Roman Opalka, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy Scotto Voce, Yvon Lambert, New York Chung Sang Hwa, Lee Ufan, Moon Seung Keun, Gallery Hyndai, Seoul Mediations Biennale, National Museum in Poznan, Poznan, Poland Transcendence: Modernity and Beyond in Korean Art, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2007 Living in the Material World: “Things” in Art of the 20th Century and Beyond, National Art Center, Tokyo Elastic Taboos: Within the Korean World of Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna The Art of Monet and His Posterity, National Art Center, Tokyo 48 October Salon: Micro-Narratives, Legacy House, Belgrade What is Mono-Ha?,Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo On Kawara, Lee Ufan, Hitoshi Nomura: Time Recorded, Fergus McCaffre, New York Coleccion de la Fundacion Shelter, Galeria Guillermo de Osma, Madrid Poetrey in Motion, Foundation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland Time is Always Now!,Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Void in Korean Art, Leeum: Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul 2006 La force de l’art, Grand Palais, Paris Gwangju Biennale 2006:Fever Variations, Gwangju Biennale Hall, Gwangju, Korea Shelter: Art for Women in Forced Prostitution, Neue National galerie, Berlin Motion on Paper, Ben Brown Fine Arts, London Summertime: Reflection-Self Reflection, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Kim Whanki, Kim Tschangyeul, Lee Ufan, 1970-80: Where, in What Form, Shall We Meet Again, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul And Yet It Moves: Von Alexander Calder and Jean Tinguely to Contemporary "Mobile Art", Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany 2005 Encounters with Modernism: Highlights from the Stedelijk Museum and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Reconsidering Mono-Ha, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan Moderato Cantabile, Lee Ufan, Simon Callery, Nishikawa, Galerie Philippe Casini, Paris (In)visible (In)corporeo, Museo d’Arte della Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy 2004 Traces: Body and Idea in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan L’art au future anterieur : Liliane et Michel Durand-Dessert,l’Engagement d’une Galerie 1975- 2004, Musee de Gernoble, Grenoble, France Rimpa, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 2003 Transition: Genpei Akasegawa, On Kawara, Lee Ufan, Yayoi Kusama, Atsuko Tanaka, SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo Happiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo Anni ’70, 80, 90, Lorenzelli Arte, Milan, Italy Les annees 70 l’Art en Cause, CAPC Musee d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France APT 2002: Asia-Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 2001 Mono-Ha:School of Things, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, Tate Modern, London Le Tribu dell’Arte, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome Ikiro/Be Alive: Contemporary Art from Japan, Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands Silence/Violence, SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo Vision: Selected Works from the Collection of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota City, Japan 2000 Gwangju Biennale 2000: Man+Space, Gwangju Biennale Hall, Gwangju, Korea 3rd Shanghai Biennale 2000:Haishang-Shanghai, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai Mr. Paint: Bernard Frize, Katharina Grosse and Lee Ufan, Galerie Monika Reitz, Frankfurt, Germany 1999 Art-Worlds in Dialogue: From Gauguin to Global Presence, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany 1998 Sarajevo 2000, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna Korean Monochromism: Methods, Ideas and Spirits, Busan Metropolitan Art Museum, Busan, Korea Contemporary Art of Korea– Time, Hoam Art Gallery, Seoul Korean Positions of Contemporary, Galerie Dorothea van der Koelen, Mainz, Germany Poetics of Time: ’98 Korean Contemporary Art, Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul 1997 Made in France 1947-1997: 50 Years of Creation in France, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musee Nationale d’Art Moderne, Paris Two Approaches: Ogawa Machiko and Lee Ufan, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Collection of the Centre George Pompidou: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Gravity: Axis of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 1996 Japan 1970: Matter and Perception, Mono-Ha and Search Fundamentals of Art, Musee d’art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Etienne Metropole, Saint-Etienne, France Small Truths: Repetition and the Obsessional in Contemporary Art, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK: Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK Project 8: Prehistoric Stone and Media Show, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul Works on paper by America, European and Japanese Artists, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1995 Asiana: Contemporary Art from the Far East, Palazzo VendraminCalergi, Venice, Italy Korean Art 1995: Quality, Quantity, Sensation, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea Matter and Perception 1970: Mono-Ha and the Search for Fundamentals, Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan; Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan Movement of a Line-II: Line in Transformation and Dissection of Symbol, Base Gallery, Tokyo JoongAng Biennial: Contemplation, Ho-Am Art Museum, Yongin, Korea Drawings From the Gallery, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1994 Mono-Ha, Part II, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky, Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan; Guggenheim MuseumSoHo, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco,USA Malerei, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1993 Spiritual in Art, Fukuyama Museum of Art, Hiroshima, Japan 1992 Working With Nature: Traditional Thought in Contemporary Art from Korea, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK Avanguardie Giapponesi Degli Anni 70, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna, Italy 1991 Seven Artists: Aspects of Contemporary Japanese Art, Santa Monica Museum of Art, California, USA; Portland Art Museum, Oregon Art Institute, Oregon, USA; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, USA; Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan 1990 Blau: Farbe der Ferne,Heidelberger Kunstverin, Heidelberg, Germany Minimal Art, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan Inventory VII, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Movement of a Line, Base Gallery, Tokyo 1989 20th Biennale Middelheim-Japan, Middleheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium Effets de Miroirs, Bibliotheque LouisAragon, Choisy, France Croisement de Signes: Ben Bella, Degottex, Gysin, Lee Ufan, Shakir Hassan, Musee de l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris Europalia Japan Festival: New Tools, New Images: Kunst en Technologie in Japan, Museum van Hedendaages Kunst, Ghent, Belgium 1988 Olympiad of Art: the 2nd International Open-Air Sculpture Symposium, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seoul Mono-Ha: La Scuola della Cose, Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Rome 1987 Art in Japan Since 1969: Mono-Ha and Post-Mono-Ha, Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo 10th Anniversary Exhibition: Painting 1977-87, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 18th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan: A Panorama of Contemporary Paintings, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan; Modern Art Museum, Miyagi, Japan 1986 ’86 Seoul Contemporary Asian Art Show: Commemorative Exhibition of the 10th Asian Games, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea Mono-Ha, Part 1: Lee Ufan, Nobuo Sekine, Katsuro Yoshida, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Seoul-Paris, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris: Seoul Press Center Gallery, Seoul Japon des Avant-Gardes 1910-1970, Centre Georges Pompidou,Musee Nationale d ‘Art Moderne, Paris Method in 1970s : Lee Uan, Nobuo Sekine, KishioSuga, Soh Gallery, Tokyo Contemporary Arts Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo Contemporary Japanese Calligraphy and Painting, GalerieNationale de Prague, Prague 1985 40 Years of Japanese Contemporary Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo Ecole de Seoul, Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Inventory III, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany Contemporary Art Exhibition: Takamatsu Jiro, AkasegawaGenpei, Nakanishi Natsuyuki, Lee Ufan, Sekine Nobuo, SugaKishio, Murakami Tomoharu, Wakabayashi Isamu, Suzuki Akio, Soh Gallery, Tokyo Artists’ Books: Japan, Franklin Furnace, New York: Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo 1984 Trends of Contemporary Japanese Art 1970-1984: Universality/Individuality, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo WiesbadenerSkulpturentage,Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany Artists To-day ’84, Yokohama Civic Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan Exhibition 1970s: Lee Ufan, Noriyuki Haraguchi, KishioSuga, NaoyoshiHikosaka, Masaaki Yamada, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Human Documents ‘84/’85: Lee Ufan, MokumaKikuhata, Ushio Shinohara, Jiro Takamatsu, Hidetoshi Nagasawa, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo Contemporary Korean Art Exhibition, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan Art in Japan Today II: 1970-1983, Japan Foundation, Tokyo 1983 Tokyo Gallery in London: Juda Rowan Gallery’s Selection from Tokyo Gallery; Minoru Kawabata, Lee Ufan, YoshishigeSaito, Juda RowanGallery, London ARS 83 Helsinki, Art Museum of the Ateneum, Helsinki Could be Sculpture: Tatsuo Kawaguchi, Nobuo Sekine, Noboru Takayama, Saburo Muraoka, Lee Ufan, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo Contemporary Paper Works: Japan and Korea, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul: Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan: Museum of Modern Art Saitama, Saitama, Japan: Kumamoto Prefectural Gallery, Kumamoto, Japan 1982 Material Gets Art, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin Drawing Today; Masters of Drawing: Denes, Gafgen, Tubke, Ufan, Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Nurnberg, Germany: Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Camden Arts Center, London Aspects of Contemporary Korean Art, Kyoto Municiapl Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan 1981 nventory I, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1980 Contemporary Art in Japan, ModernaMuseet, Stockholm Skulpturim 20 Jahrhundert, WenkenparkRiehen, Basel, Switzerland Asian Artists Exhibition, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan 1979 1st Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition, Hakone Open-Air Museum,Kanagawa, Japan 11th International Prints Biennale in Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo: National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan: Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido, Japan Tetsuya Noda, Lee Ufan: Prints Exhibition, Shirota Gallery, Tokyo Korean Contemporary Arts: Unique Methods of Exhibit by Four Artists, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul Secondes Rencontres Internationales d’Art Contemporain, GrandPalais, Paris 1978 Z. B. Sculpture, Statisches Museum im Stadel, Frankfurt, Germany Focus 78: Foire-Exposition d’Art Actuel, Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris 1977 Five Contemporary Artists: Lee Ufan, Yasukazu Tabuchi, Jiro Takamatsu, Nobuo Sekine, Kishio Suga, Kaneko Art Tokyo, Tokyo 13th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo: Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan Ecole de Seoul, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Prints Acquisitions 1973-1976, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1976 Japanese Graphic, Galleria Civicad’ArteModerna, Ferrara, Italy The 2nd Biennale of Sydney 1996: Recent International Forms in Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Prints: Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York 1975 3rd Triennale India, National Academy of Art, New Delhi, India Lee Ufan, Kanji Wakae, Galerie m Bochum, Bochum, Germany 1974 Japanese Art in Louisiana, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek,Denmark Japan Traditional Gegenwart, Statisches Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf, Germany 9th International Biennale Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 1972 The First Napoli International Exhibition, Naples, Italy 2nd International Biennale of Prints in Seoul, National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul 8th International Biennale Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Projects of the First Naples International Art Exhibition, Minami Gallery, Tokyo 1971 Words and Image: Lee Ufan, Noriyuki Haraguchi, Susumu Koshimizu, Pinar Gallery, Tokyo The Exhibition of Tokyo Gallery 1971: Lee Ufan, Susumu Koshimizu, Katsuhiko Narita, Katsuro Yoshida, Nobuo Sekine, Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo: Pinar Gallery, Tokyo: Saikodo Gallery, Tokyo 10th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan: Man and Nature, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 7th Youth Paris Biennale, Parc Floral de Paris, Paris 1970 7th International Biennale Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Aspects of New Japanese Art, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 1969 X Bienal de São Paulo, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil Trends in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan 9th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 5th International Youth Artist Exhibition, Seibu Department Store,Tokyo 1968 Contemporary Korean Painting, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Contemporary Artists: Invitational Exhibition, ChosunIlbo, Seoul
Awards career
2013 Brass Cultural Medal 2007 Région d'Honneur Medal 2001 13th Japan Art Association World Cultural Award 2001 11th Hoam Prize Art Prize 2000 UNESCO Art Prize 1979 1st Henry Moore Prize Grand Prize 1977 13th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition Tokyo National Modern Art Museum 1969 International Young Artist Art House Japanese Culture Forum Award
A stone is presented in its natural state and brought infinitely close to the human. A steel plate is presented in its artificial state and brought infinitely close to nature. The work comes together from both sides, and becomes one as its moves toward a third position. At the same time, gaps in the overlapping parts allow the wind of the world to enter. - Lee Ufan, The Conditions of Sculpture, 1976 Lee Ufan, known as a founder of mono-ha, is a painter, sculptor and philosopher. His art is rooted in an Eastern appreciation of the nature of materials and also in modern European phenomenology. Born in 1936 in Korea, he studied painting at the Seoul National University and moved to Japan, where he earned a degree in philosophy at the Nihon University in 1961. In 1973, he was appointed as a professor of Tama Art University in Tokyo and stayed there until 2007. He lives and works in Japan, Korea and Paris. Lee Ufan came to prominence as one of the theoretical leaders of the Mono-ha group. The Mono-Ha school of thought rejected the notions of representation, choosing to focus on the relationships of materials and perceptions rather than on expression. Lee's sculptures, presenting dispersed arrangements of stones together with industrial materials like steel plates, rubber sheets, and glass panes, recast the discrete object as a network of relations based on parity between the viewer, materials, and site. Also, by dropping a stone on the glass pane and having cracks on the surface, he visualizes the encounter between human and object. In his painting, Lee creates poetic space by painting skilled brushstrokes in the empty canvas; the encounter between self and other. Corresponding relations between points or lines and the white space generate resonance and infinite depth. His art embraces the world at large and encourages the fluid coexistence of numerous beings, concepts, and experiences. Lee Ufan participated in Documenta VI (1977) in Kassel, and in 1969 and 1973 he was chosen to represent Korea in the Bienal de Sao Paulo. Major exhibitions of Lee's artworks were held at the Yokohama Museum of Art and the Musée d'art Moderne Saint-Etienne in France in 2005. However, it was Lee’s "Resonance" exhibition at Palazzo Palumbo Fossati in the 2007 Venice Biennale that won critical acclaim and a wider audience. In 2011, Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York as a second Korean artist after Nam June Paik. In 2014, Lee was the fourth invited artist for the contemporary art program of the Palace of Versailles.