Lot 3404* - A215 Post-War & Contemporary - Thursday, 27. November 2025, 02.00 PM
LEE UFAN
(Haman-gun 1936–lives and works in Paris)
Silence. 2006.
Acrylic on canvas, stone.
With the archive number of the gallery in Bochum on the stretcher: m 7003.
Dimensions of canvas 227 × 182.5 cm.
Dimensions of stone 45.5 × 64 × 52 cm.
Distance to the wall 77 cm.
Dimensions of stone 45.5 × 64 × 52 cm.
Distance to the wall 77 cm.
Certificate:
Provenance:
- Private collection, Germany, acquired from the above in 2006.
Exhibited:
Lee Ufan, born in Korea in 1936, is an important contemporary artist and thinker, who has been active internationally since the 1970s. He was co-founder of the Japanese Mono-ha movement, which set itself apart from Western modernism. Mono-ha - which translates as ‘school of things’ - understands art not as an expression of individual creativity or an emotional state, but as an interrelationship of materials, space and perception. In his work, Lee Ufan brings philosophy, poetry and stillness into a subtle balance. His works are deeply rooted in Eastern thought, particularly Zen Buddhism and Daoism, and may be seen as posing a radical challenge to the Western understanding of art as creation.
In his artistic practice, Lee Ufan largely dispenses with traditional notions of composition, staging and the hand of the artist. Instead, he emphasises the encounter between materials - such as paper, canvas, iron, stone or glass - and their spatial effect. The work is created through dialogue, not by dictate. The material is not shaped but positioned. This creates a poetic tension between presence and emptiness, between action and restraint.
The works on canvas form a central chapter in his oeuvre, in particular the ‘From Line’ and ‘From Point’ series, which were created in the 1970s. In these series, Lee Ufan experimented with rhythmically placed brushstrokes, each applied to the canvas with a single, increasingly faint stroke. The interstices - the unpainted areas - become just as significant as the visible mark. In later works such as the ‘Correspondence’ series, this approach is intensified: a few brushstrokes on monochrome canvases display maximum reduction and minimum intervention - and thus create an opening for the contemplative experience.
The work presented here is a particularly impressive and rare piece that epitomises Lee Ufan's concept of presence and emptiness in space. It consists of a large-format white canvas and a single, round stone lying on the ground a short distance in front of it. The canvas is entirely unpainted, pure and still. A white pictorial space that functions not as a surface but as a mental resonance chamber. The stone, unfinished and heavy, is positioned in the room seemingly casually, but in fact with great care. This arrangement can be interpreted as a kind of silent dialogue between nature and spirit, between object and perception. It does not depict a scene but rather initiates a state of being. The white surface does not demand interpretation but offers an opening. The stone is not a symbol but simply exists like a statement of fact ; an element from the world that interacts with the space, the light and the presence of the viewer. The tension between the flat, empty expanse of the canvas and the material volume of the stone creates an intense feeling of being present.
Lee Ufan uses minimal means to create a work that seeks not only to be seen, but also to be experienced. With stillness, with attentiveness and respect for what it is.
In his artistic practice, Lee Ufan largely dispenses with traditional notions of composition, staging and the hand of the artist. Instead, he emphasises the encounter between materials - such as paper, canvas, iron, stone or glass - and their spatial effect. The work is created through dialogue, not by dictate. The material is not shaped but positioned. This creates a poetic tension between presence and emptiness, between action and restraint.
The works on canvas form a central chapter in his oeuvre, in particular the ‘From Line’ and ‘From Point’ series, which were created in the 1970s. In these series, Lee Ufan experimented with rhythmically placed brushstrokes, each applied to the canvas with a single, increasingly faint stroke. The interstices - the unpainted areas - become just as significant as the visible mark. In later works such as the ‘Correspondence’ series, this approach is intensified: a few brushstrokes on monochrome canvases display maximum reduction and minimum intervention - and thus create an opening for the contemplative experience.
The work presented here is a particularly impressive and rare piece that epitomises Lee Ufan's concept of presence and emptiness in space. It consists of a large-format white canvas and a single, round stone lying on the ground a short distance in front of it. The canvas is entirely unpainted, pure and still. A white pictorial space that functions not as a surface but as a mental resonance chamber. The stone, unfinished and heavy, is positioned in the room seemingly casually, but in fact with great care. This arrangement can be interpreted as a kind of silent dialogue between nature and spirit, between object and perception. It does not depict a scene but rather initiates a state of being. The white surface does not demand interpretation but offers an opening. The stone is not a symbol but simply exists like a statement of fact ; an element from the world that interacts with the space, the light and the presence of the viewer. The tension between the flat, empty expanse of the canvas and the material volume of the stone creates an intense feeling of being present.
Lee Ufan uses minimal means to create a work that seeks not only to be seen, but also to be experienced. With stillness, with attentiveness and respect for what it is.
CHF 40 000 / 70 000 | (€ 41 240 / 72 160)
Sold for CHF 181 250 (including buyer's premium)