From Point 1975

Lee Ufan created this work, called 'From Point', with watercolor on paper. It’s made up of countless marks, each one slightly different in tone, pressure, and size. Look closely, and you’ll see that the work involved repetitive actions: the artist touching brush to paper, again and again. There is no overt narrative, no central image, just the cumulative effect of material applied to a surface. Ufan was associated with the 'Mono-ha' or 'School of Things' group, who rejected Western notions of representation. They emphasized the encounter with materials as they are. You could say this work embodies that principle completely, because it reduces painting to its most basic components: pigment, water, and paper. The real subject is the process of its own making, in which the artist's labor becomes visible. This is a very different sensibility from conventional painting, where brushwork is often concealed to create an illusion. In "From Point," the method is the meaning.