Points, Lines, Encounters: The World According to Lee Ufan

Best known as the theoretical pillar of the influential Mono-ha (Things School) group of artists active in Japan from 1968 to the early 1970s, the works of Korean-born, Japan-based artist and critic Lee Ufan have largely been framed in contra-distinction to Western concepts of modernity. However, Lee's primary interest lay in meeting the challenge of producing art that was aware of, yet not beholden to, the acutely tempestuous art critical, political, and biographical contexts in which the artwork and the artist resided. This interest was particularly well articulated in the two series of paintings titled 'From Line' and 'From Point'. Begun in 1973, these works revolved around a depiction of monochromatic points and lines that encouraged their to approach the artwork as part of an experience that was both interactive and non-reactive. From a viewpoint that considers Lee as a participant in both the art worlds of Japan and Korea, this article contends that Lee's paintings hoped to transform then-prevailing perceptions of what Lee described as the 'world' into those that might be described as an open-ended process of globalization.