Lee Ufan - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale New York Tuesday, May 10, 2016 | Phillips

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 10 May 2016 

  • Provenance

    Private Collection, United States
    Private Collection, Korea (gift from the above in the 1990's)
    Private Collection, Japan (acquired from the above)

  • Catalogue Essay

    Dichotomies between marked and unmarked, painted and unpainted are revealed through the 24 blue lines that travel vertically down the canvas of Lee Ufan’s From Line, No. 790143 of 1979. The present lot represents an elegant example from Ufan’s iconic From Line series, which depict a series of repeated parallel blue lines. As a member of the Mono-ha movement, Ufan disregarded pictorial imagery and veered his interest towards the minimalist forms produced from simple, raw materials. The specially hand mixed paint and the use of artificial hair brushes maximizes the friction between paint and surface as the brush is pulled steadily down the composition from top to bottom. The paint, once potent at the top of the composition, gradually diminishes as it runs thinner and thinner and finally falls off the lower edge the canvas. This stunning technique results in what Ufan describes as a “mediating effect that empties out its surroundings and brings some kind of transcendence to the place where it is” (Lee Ufan, The Art of Encounter, Lisson Gallery, London, 2004).

201

Lee Ufan

From Line, No. 790143

1979
mineral pigment on canvas
23 7/8 x 28 5/8 in. (60.6 x 72.7 cm)
Signed and dated “L. UFAN 79” lower right. Further signed, titled and dated "From line, No. 790143 Lee Ufan" on the reverse.
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by SCAI the Bathhouse.

Estimate
$200,000 - 300,000 

Sold for $449,000

Contact Specialist
John McCord
Head of Day Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1261

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 10 May 2016