Dialogue 2010

Lee Ufan made this painting, titled Dialogue, with oil on canvas. It’s mostly a field of off-white, but it has a curious kind of pale, blue-grey rectangle floating in the middle. It's a simple form, really, but that's where its power lies, in the subtle variations of tone and hue. I can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the canvas, layering those subtle shifts of color, building up the form with careful, deliberate strokes. It’s kind of like he’s asking, what is a gesture, what can it do? How little can you do? It has a quietness reminiscent of Agnes Martin but a solidness like Giorgio Morandi. I think it's interesting to consider this in relation to the artist's wider practice, and to the history of painting itself. I wonder, how can we make space for new dialogues and new ways of seeing?