LEE UFAN at smac

A sustained meditation on matter, gesture, and perception unfolds in the major solo presentation of Lee Ufan at SMAC Venice. Curated by Jessica Morgan and developed in close dialogue with the artist, the exhibition brings together works spanning more than seven decades, tracing the evolution of a practice grounded in relational thinking and spatial awareness.

Occupying eight galleries within the Procuratie in Piazza San Marco, the presentation moves between painting, sculpture, and large-scale installation, alongside a new site-specific commission. Lee’s work, associated with both the Mono-ha movement and Dansaekhwa painting, resists representation in favor of encounter, where stone, steel, canvas, and void exist in a state of tension and balance. Across the exhibition, minimal gestures generate expansive perceptual fields, inviting a slower, more attentive mode of viewing. Rather than asserting form, Lee Ufan’s environments activate space itself, emphasizing intervals, silence, and the reciprocity between object and viewer. Timed to coincide with the artist’s 90th birthday, the exhibition positions his practice as both historically pivotal and continuously unfolding, reaffirming his enduring influence across global contemporary art.