Lee Ufan (Korean, born 1936), 李禹煥


From Point No. 790278 1979signed and dated 79; signed and titled on the reversemineral pigment and glue on canvas72.7 x 60.6 cm (28 5/8 x 23 7/8 in)
|ProvenancePrivate Collection, Japan (acquired directly from the artist circa 1979)Private Collection, Japan (acquired from the above circa 1985)Private Collection, Japan (acquired from the above)Sale: Bonhams, Hong Kong, Modern and Contemporary Art, 21 Nov 2016, Lot 3Acquired directly from the above by the present owner李禹煥從點790278號礦物顏料 膠水畫布1979年作簽名：L.UFAN 79背面簽名: From Point No. 790278 Lee Ufan來源日本私人收藏（約1979年直接得自藝術家）日本私人收藏（約1985年直接購自上述收藏）日本私人收藏（直接購自上述收藏）拍賣：香港邦瀚斯 ，「現代與當代藝術」，2016年11月21日 ，拍品編號3現藏家直接購自上述拍賣Born in 1936, Lee received formal training during the height of the Korean War, graduating from the College of Fine Arts in Seoul in 1956, and moved to Japan shortly after. A philosopher as well as an artist, Lee published leading articles on aesthetics and contemporary art that are fundamentally driven by a desire for spiritual reconciliation amidst political unrest in the region. He is an influential figure of Dansaekwa ("monochrome" painting) in Korea, and also a key-theorist of the Mono-Ha movement ("The School of Things") in Japan, which are two of the most important post-war art developments in Asia. In his works, Lee emphasizes the importance of medium and materials, as well as the interrelationship between space and matter, viewing his creative process as a meditative act of self-cultivation. Presented here is a work from his early series, From Point, an important body of works that spanned from 1972 to 1984, which along with his From Line series, led Lee to gain international recognition as one of Korea's most important contemporary artists. Having lived in France, Japan, and Korea, Lee has exhibited extensively throughout his career, including a monumental retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2011. Exploring the materiality of paint, Lee mixes a cobalt blue ground pigment, which represents the sky, with animal-skin glue, a traditional medium seen on East Asian silk paintings, then applies each brushstroke from left to right without layering, continually until the pigment mixture has exhausted on the primed canvas. What becomes apparent is a rhythmic composition of mineral blue brushstrokes applied in an orderly arrangement, contrasting against a canvas primed with a traditional Korean ochre pigment, which evokes the earth. Painting with the canvas on the floor, Lee becomes aware of his breath and bodily stance as he lays on gestural brushstrokes, similar to action painter Jackson Pollock's gestural abstraction, but in a refined and controlled manner. With careful repetition, Lee reloads his brush each time the pigment fades, then begins again, until he reaches the bottom of the canvas where rows of fading marks reach a seemingly infinite end. The repetition initiates what is essentially a philosophical and spiritual practice, which traces back to his early education in East Asian ink brushwork, heavily versed in Daoist and Buddhist principles about the existence of oneself against the cosmos. In the present work, Lee leaves conscious marks on the canvas that emerge and disappear with slight differences each time, due to the inherent qualities of the medium and conditions of the space surrounding them. As such, the painting becomes a temporal record of Lee's continuous repetition of almost identical acts, encapsulating his fundamental intention to "express infinity as a concept of repetition with unlimited variations." (Lee Ufan in: Lee Ufan, The Art of Encounter, London 2004, p. 12-16) 李禹煥生於一九三六年，接受正式的美術教育時正值韓戰最激烈的時候，一九五六年畢業於首爾大學美術學院（College of Fine Arts），旋即移居日本。作為哲學家與藝術家，他發表數篇重要文章，討論在該區域政治動盪的狀況下，因渴望精神上和解而孕育出的美學與當代藝術。他是韓國「單色畫」（Dansaekwa）和日本「物派」（Mono-Ha）這兩個亞洲戰後重要藝術發展的首要倡導者。他在作品中強調媒介和媒材的重要性，以及空間與物質的相互關係，視創作過程為自我修煉的一種冥想方式。此件作品出自他早期在一九七二年至一九八四年間創作的「由點開始」（From Point）系列，「由點開始」和另一「由線開始」（From Line）系列讓李禹煥在國際上開始發光，從那時起他被視為韓國首屈一指的當代藝術家。由於在法國、日本和韓國的居住經驗，李禹煥在其藝術生涯中累積了豐富的展歷，包括二〇一一年在紐約古根漢美術館（Guggenheim Museum）的大型回顧展。對於顏料物質性的探索，李禹煥用研磨好的鈷藍顏料（代表天）混合東亞絹畫常用的傳統媒材——動物皮膠，然後從左到右逐一落筆，直到筆印由濃轉淡。畫面上因而呈現出井然有序但饒富韻律的礦物籃筆印，與畫布上的傳統韓式赭色（代表地）形成強烈對比。李禹煥習慣將畫布放在地上創作，在運筆作畫的過程中專注於呼吸和身體的移動，這一點與傑克遜・波洛克（Jackson Pollock）用動作和姿態進行抽象繪畫的手法相當雷同，只是李禹煥講求得是畫筆的掌控精準和細緻度。李禹煥小心翼翼地重複落筆，每次重新沾上顏料，待顏色慢慢消去又再重新來過，直到畫筆運行到畫布下方，在畫面上留下一道道逐漸消逝的痕跡，好似永遠達不到盡頭。這樣的重複性行為可以說是一種哲學和精神上的實踐，這可回溯到他早期接受東亞水墨繪畫訓練時，即著迷於思考道家和佛家對於宇宙中個人存在意義的哲理。在此作品中，李禹煥在畫面上留下的痕跡由深轉淺，由於媒材本身的質地和畫布上的空間條件，每一次的畫印都會些微不同。由此，作品紀錄了李禹煥持續不斷的一個重複性行為，捕捉到他對於「在不斷重複中尋找無限變化」的根本思想。（李禹煥語，《藝術上的偶遇》，倫敦2004，p. 12-16）