Few artists can convey infinity in a brushstroke or tease presence from the void. The source of Korean artist Lee Ufan's creativity stems from childhood where he was raised with strict Confucian ideals and schooled in poetry and calligraphy. In the early Sixties, having moved to Japan to study philosophy at Nihon University, he emerged from a creative milieu as a leader in the Mono-ha (“School of Things”) movement; an aesthetic theory that rejected Western modern art. The movement also explored the properties of natural and industrial materials to show their dismay at the rampant industrialization of Japan.

This episode of Meet the artists by Art Basel visits the 84-year-old master in his studio in Kamakura, Japan. This film serves as a blueprint to understanding Ufan's ascetic minimalism and how his semicentennial survey of materials led to a uniquely philosophical approach to art.

Many of Ufan's paintings incorporate—or rather, were designed around—voids and exploring the space between two objects to determine their relationship. His singular vision garnered solo exhibitions at international institutions, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Château de Versailles in France.

One of Ufan’s most renowned works is Dialogue, an ongoing series of paintings created with multiple strokes of monochromatic mineral pigment. Each canvas features highly controlled brushwork that he connects to his breath.

The garden featured in this visual profile is also home to the artist's sculptural work. Relatum—dialogue (2002/11) presents two steel sheets laid on top of each other, flanked by large rocks; a choreographed meeting between twin objects in perfect disequilibrium.

No matter the medium, Ufan's work is a meditation on the silent interplay between the art, the viewer, and the space that resonates between them.

Lee Ufan is represented by Kukje Gallery, Seoul; Pace Gallery, New York; kamel mennour, Paris; Lisson Gallery, London; and SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo