Lee Ufan was born in South Korea and moved to Japan in 1956. Internationally renowned as a leading figure in the important postwar Japanese art movement Mono-ha, he presents materials like stone, wood, paper, and iron with almost no interference, thus liberating “things” from arbitrary human alteration, and directing our awareness to the world that unfolds in front of us as it really is. Lee has held major solo exhibitions at such venues as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, 2011), Palace of Versailles (France, 2014), Centre Pompidou-Metz (France, 2019), and National Art Center, Tokyo (2022). In 2010, the Lee Ufan Museum opened on Naoshima, Japan, followed by Space Lee Ufan annex of the Busan Museum of Art in South Korea in 2015, and Lee Ufan Arles in the French city of Arles in 2022.

The painting Dialogue features an intense orange color graduated from right to left as if melting into the blank expanse of the canvas. Though empty, the area around the orange nonetheless seems vividly alive, and the artist’s attempt to assimilate the space beyond the canvas embodies his philosophy of pursuing encounters with the world as it is. Seeking out new harmony with the world, Lee’s practice remains replete in implications for us today as we grapple with the imbalances of contemporary society.