Lee Ufan Arles

Founded by artist Lee Ufan, who has been attached to Arles since an exhibition at the Saint Laurent-Le Capitole chapel in 2013, this venue presents the artist’s historical and recent work, as well as a programme of temporary exhibitions, cultural events, and activities for a range of audiences. The work of Lee Ufan – a Korean painter, sculptor, poet and philosopher born in 1936 – is like a series of revelations. It draws our attention to the materials, the empty space, the distance between two elements, the reflections and the shadows: everything that we wouldn’t have seen at first glance and yet forms part of the work of art. The cultures of three countries – Korea; Japan, where he studied and lives; and France, where he spends part of the year – collide in Lee Ufan’s universal oeuvre. His sculptures, which he calls “Relatum”, are the product of “encounters” where, for instance, a natural material (such as stone or linen) meets an industrial material (sheets of steel or glass) and a space. They lead us to reflect not on what the artist has done, but on the relationship between mankind and nature in general.