Dialogue

2010

Oil on canvas, set of 12

53 x 45.5 cm (20 7/8 x 17 15/16 in.) (each)

Twelve squares of white canvas each sport a single brushstroke: a blue-grey shade revealing a movement that is both precise and intense, on an empty white background.

For the Dialogue series, Lee Ufan marks his canvases on the ground with a single stroke of colour in oil, mixed with a natural pigment. His movement is slow and precise, performed with complete mastery of breath and body. The process is repeated over several weeks. The artist consciously leaves an empty space, creating a link between the part that has been touched and the part left intact. “It’s the feeling that counts, feeling the presence of air and space”, he explains. A dialogue is then established between the elements of his work, but also between the interior and exterior world.

The Dialogue series (2010) was first shown by the Pinault Collection at the "Le Monde vous appartient" (“The World Belongs to You”) exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice in 2011-2013.


Exhibitions