Lisson Gallery, London Private Collection Acquired from the above by the present owner
Literature
New York, PaceWildenstein, Lee Ufan, 19 September - 25 October 2008, p.42-43 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
“By the same principle, when the white space on a canvas is made to vibrate by the slight touch of a brush using a refined technique, people can perceive it as the real nature of painting.” Lee Ufan, quoted in Lee Ufan, The Art of Encounter, London, 2004, p. 10
Composed of singular sweeps of paint using the artist’s traditional grey palette, Dialogue sees the paint built up over an extended period of time, with the brush gradually unloading and the mark lightening as he drags it across the surface of the canvas, each repetition being ritualistically controlled by Lee’s held breath. From right to left, the sweeps of paint fade from a blue grey to a pure white. Developing this series since 2006, the present lot exemplifies the artist’s composition of “a single dab in the void”, challenging the relationship between the “object” and the space it occupies on the canvas, immersing oneself in the art of encounter.
2007 signed, titled and dated '"Dialogue" 2007 Lee Ufan' on the reverse oil and mineral pigment on canvas 218 x 291 cm. (85 7/8 x 114 5/8 in.) Executed in 2007.