Lee Ufan

In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.
Lee Ufan
BornJune 24, 1936
Haman-gun, South Korea
NationalitySouth Korean
EducationNihon University
MovementMono-ha
AwardsLegion of Honour
Praemium Imperiale
Lee Ufan
Hangul
이우환
Hanja
Revised RomanizationYi Uhwan
McCune–ReischauerI Uhwan

Lee Ufan (Korean: 이우환, Hanja: 李禹煥, Korean pronunciation: [iːuhwan] born 1936 in Haman County, in South Kyongsang province in Korea) is a Korean minimalist painter, sculptor, and academic,[1] known for innovative bodies of work emphasizing process, materials, and the experiential engagement of viewer and site, and critiques of European phenomenology.[2]

Having lived and worked in Japan for much of his professional life, Lee has been honored by the Japanese government for having "contributed to the development of contemporary art in Japan."[3] His essay "Sonzai to mu wo koete Sekine Nobuo ron (Beyond Being and Nothingness – A Thesis on Sekine Nobuo)" is largely considered an originator of thought for the post-war Japanese art movement of Mono-ha ("School of Things") in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[4] His writings, published in rapid succession from 1969, have sought to externalize the interface between ideas and sensibilities from the West, namely Western Europe and the United States, and those found in East Asia. Many commentators stress Lee's stated desire to escape, or refute, Western ideas of signification, for example.[5]

As the main theorist of the Mono-ha movement in Japan, Lee was trained as a philosopher.[6] As a painter, Lee contributed to "Korean Monotone Art" (Dansaekjo Yesul, 單色調 藝術),[citation needed] the first artistic movement in 20th century Korea to be promoted in Japan. His work largely advocates for a methodology of de-westernization and de-modernization in both theory and practice as an antidote to the Eurocentric thought of 1960s postwar Japanese society. A self-proclaimed wanderer and lifelong cultural border-crosser, Lee divides his time between Kamakura, Japan, and Paris, France.[7]

  1. ^ Felicity Fenner, Art in America, July, 2003,
  2. ^ 돌·쇠'로 우주 삼라만상 얘기할 수 있더라 (Aug 27, 2009), Hankyoreh.
  3. ^ Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "2009 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals," p. 9.
  4. ^ Original title is "存在と無を越えて–關根伸夫論" (Art magazine Sansai 三彩, Japan, June 1969), Kim Mi Kyung, "Study on Sekine Nobuo Ron (1969) by Lee Ufan", Journal of Korean Modern Art History, Association for Education of Korean Art History, Seoul; Korea, pp. 234–78, 2005
  5. ^ Kee, Joan. "Points, Lines, Encounters: The World According to Lee Ufan." Oxford Art Journal (2008) 405. doi:10.1093/oxartj/kcn028
  6. ^ Gómez, Edward M. (July–August 2011). "Whose Modernism is it Anyway?". The Brooklyn Rail.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).