[Audio Guide]
Straight lines applied with a brush gradually fade from top to bottom, eventually vanishing altogether. The movement of the brush over the canvas is repeated about 30 times, capturing the artist’s movement and breath and evoking the intense discipline of calligraphy. Lee Ufan grew up in South Korea, and from a young age was steeped in East Asian culture, including calligraphy, ink painting, and Taoist philosophy. After studying Western philosophy at Nihon University in Japan, he began emphasizing “the world as it is,” and became a leading figure in Mono-ha (the “School of Things”), an influential Japanese art movement of the 1970s. Envision the artist painting each line on the canvas: the process represents a complex interplay between painting and calligraphy, East and West, and line and plane. These elements, while seemingly opposing, are in fact deeply intertwined and inseparable.
