李禹煥

Lee Ufan, born in Seoul in 1936, is a South Korean minimalist painter, sculptor, and philosopher who has spent most of his career based in Japan. A theorist and founding figure of Mono-ha, the post-war Japanese art movement emphasizing materials, process, and phenomenological encounter, Lee shaped contemporary art through both his writings and practice. His essays from 1969 onward—particularly on the relationship between viewer and artwork—have been widely influential, teaching viewers to see materials and spaces anew rather than as passive transmitters of artistic intention.