The National Art Center, Tokyo, presents a major retrospective by contemporary artist Lee Ufan, through November 07, 2022. He was born in 1936 and became famous internationally in combining natural and artificial materials in a temperate manner. Lee absorbed a wide range of thought and literature from the East and the West in the late ’60s and early ’70s and spearheaded the postwar Japanese artistic phenomenon Mono-ha (School of Things). Moreover, through his art and writings, he evolved a worldview based on the notion that all things are interrelated.

The exhibition is divided into two main sections: one focusing on sculpture and the other on painting. It assembles Lee’s most important works, including everything from his earliest pre-Mono-ha pieces, which considered the problem of vision; the Relatum series, which changed the concept of sculpture; and his highly spiritual paintings, which produce a tranquil rhythm. This presentation comprehensively highlights Lee’s development and distinctive character from the dawn of his career in the 1960s to his most recent works.

E.g. his solo exhibition at the Palais de Versailles in France in 2014 drew worldwide attention. Relatum – the Arch of Versailles, an enormous stainless-steel arch supported by two stones on either side, was installed outdoors.

After passing beneath one of Lee’s huge arches, the viewer experiences the surrounding environment in a new way.

Exhibit “Lee Ufan“ on occasion of the 15th Anniversary of the National Art Center, Tokyo, through November 07, 2022

(16.08.2022, USA: 08.16.2022)