Lee Ufan "Dialogue 1"

Lee Ufan is an artist who led one of the most important movements in post-war Japanese art, Mono-ha (the “School of Things”). His activities are drawing renewed attention with the opening of the Lee Ufan Museum in Arles, France in the spring of 2022, and a large-scale retrospective exhibition held at the National Art Center, Tokyo in the summer of 2022 and presently in Kobe at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art.
From the early days of his career as an artist, Mr. Lee has repeatedly attempted to express himself using printing techniques. For him, printmaking is not just a technique of reproduction, but an important means of expression that visualizes the differences that arise in the passage of time and repetition. And now, together with artisans who have inherited traditional woodcut printing, the "Dialogue" series has been produced as woodcut prints.
We hope you will enjoy the new expression of woodcut printing, created through dialogue with materials such as wood and paper, and the relationships between creators.

Comments from the Artist
“I was astonished to hear that the printer, Ms. Kishi, had to print the colors nearly 20 times to bring out the colors in my work. But I see that the layers of color that are created through that process are gentle and subtle, but powerful. Perhaps you could say the visual image has a strong sense of presence. I think that is something that appears when you print over and over again with extremely thin and light tones. Being able to confirm this was an interesting experience for me as well.”