Lee Ufan (b. 1936, South Korea)
From Line, 1974

In my work I prefer to work with the materials, not against them. Of course, it is an odd kind or rationalisation that sometimes could also be seen as an intellectualised way to hide the lack of skill. But even if results may not necessarily be as spectacular as from a method where materials are coerced to an exactly premeditated shape, it excites me more. Not to know in advance what something I am doing is going to look like, upholds my curiosity and allows for new meanings to emerge rather than just replicating preconceived ones. This applies to majority of my works – be it crochet, be it sound generation, be it movement improvisation, be it painting, be it printmaking…

It it from this perspective that I chose to include this Ufan’s piece here. I like the pigment on the brush to be exhausted whenever it is. I like the ritualised mode of painting where the body movements of the artist, the resistance in the material, its natural propensities and natural forces work together leaving traces of that collaboration for our appreciation.