As a progenitor of the Japanese Mono-ha, or School of Things, movement, Lee Ufan led a loose constellation of artists who championed the use of ordinary materials during the late 1960s, significantly altering the course of 20^th-century Japanese art. Lee's dense yet poetic text, Beyond Being and Nothingness—A Thesis on Sekine Nobuo, provided something of an intellectual foundation for the movement. The group eschewed representation, choosing instead to zero in on the relationship between perception and material. Its main aim—as expressed by its key figures—was to demonstrate the fluid coexistence of objects, ideas and encounters.

In 1956, Lee began studying painting at the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University, but after two months he relocated to Yokohama, Japan, where he went on to earn a degree in philosophy in 1961. During this period, the restrained painting style of his student work was in formal and conceptual opposition to the free expression of Gutai—the performance-oriented post-war Japanese art movement that anticipated Fluxus and inspired the work of Yves Klein, Allan Kaprow and Nam June Paik.

In the mid-1970s Lee became one of the major exponents of Korean Dansaekhwa ('Monochrome Painting')—a style that became one of the country's most important artistic developments in the 20^th century—and the first from that period to bring the movement to Japan. Lee, along with the group's other loosely connected members, emphasised materiality as a means of producing relationships that link objects to viewers. In the repetitive gestural marks of his work, abstraction served to register the body's movement as well as the passage of time. With an eye towards modernist abstraction's best-known devices—seriality, gesture, grids and monochrome—Lee's paintings pushed the bounds of formalist paradigms. And through their affinity to and correspondence with Euro-American art, they proffered new forms of connection across seemingly incompatible ideological positions.

In his early painting series, 'From Point' and 'From Line' (1972–84), Lee combined ground mineral pigment with animal-skin glue, typical of the traditional Japanese Nihonga painting in which he had trained. Each fastidious brushstroke consisted of multiple simultaneous layers, and where the brush had first made contact with the support, the paint was thick, creating a 'ridge' that would gradually lighten. Rarely did Lee's brush touch the canvas separately more than three times, yet this economic application created a feeling of dynamic tension between gesture and picture plane characteristic of his paintings. In the early 1990s, Lee carried this through to his 'Correspondence' paintings, which consisted of a minimal number of grey-blue brushstrokes, applied on large white surfaces.

Lee's more recent and ongoing 'Dialogue' series, begun around 2006, considers philosophical notions of emptiness and fullness. These exist within a lineage of work that dates back to earlier works such as the 'From Line', 'From Point' and 'From Winds' series, which in the 1970s marked his transition from relatively small strokes predominantly in blue and orange to the intermixing of those colours and the predominance of grey tones from the 1980s.

Today Lee views his pristine white supports, enlivened by touches of paint, and his large site-specific sculptures made from stone and iron as materially opposed to the virtual nature of screen-based media that has now become so ubiquitous.

Although he is highly regarded as a painter, one of Lee's best-known series is 'Relatum' (1968–), three-dimensional groups of rocks dispersed with industrial materials such as steel sheets, glass panes and rubber. Lee began producing them as a response to 1960s Japan and its intensely turbulent socio-political climate. In each of these assemblages, the artist emphasises how constituent parts sit in relation to one another, to space and to surrounding objects, going beyond the enclosed network that is implied by the term 'sculpture' and its more conventional examples.

As well as being the recipient of numerous awards and honours, Lee is also represented in numerous prominent collections around the world. These include The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; and The National Museum of Art, Osaka.

In 2010, the Tadao Ando-designed Lee Ufan Museum was opened at the Benesse Art Site on the Japanese Island of Naoshima, dedicated to the artist and his legacy. Lee—a professor emeritus at Tama Art University, Tokyo, where he taught from 1973 to 2007—divides his time between France and Japan.

With its exponential growth, Seoul has also flourished as a city of art with establishments showcasing both burgeoning local and internationally renowned artists. From Samcheong-dong, an area to the west of Gyeongbok Palace overflowing with

Blum & Poe opened in 1994 in Santa Monica, California with a roster of young Los Angeles and international artists. Now occupying a 22,000 square foot space in Los Angeles, the gallery produces a dynamic program serving both established and younger artists, as well as mounts conceptually rigorous group shows. Blum & Poe was a catalyst for the Culver City Arts District and has played a significant role in the critical reception of Los Angeles artists and their inclusion in public and private collections worldwide. In August 2014, Blum & Poe opened an office and space in Tokyo, Japan, which will function as a base for Asian operations and cement the galleryʼs long-standing relationship with post-war Japanese art.

The Galerie nächst St. Stephan represents a living tradition of exploring the art of the modern era. It has been located since the 1920's in the same place in the centre of Vienna at Grünangergasse.

With the exhibition Zeichen, Fluten, Signale - neukonstruktiv und parallel ('Signs, Waves, Signals - Reconstructive and Parallel') Rosemarie Schwarzwälder presented a program in 1984, which featured basic elements that have proven relevant in numerous solo and group exhibitions up to the present. International positions of abstraction and concept-based art in the areas of painting, sculpture, installations, photography and video have maintained a continuous presence in the program of the gallery.

'It became taken for granted that nothing relating to art could be taken for granted any longer.'–T.W. Adorno

Modern or contemporary art today needs discourse. Organising symposia and independent publications is part of the gallery's self-image.

Issues of the development of art, international cultural comparisons and the validity of aesthetic criteria have been addressed in publications.
- Abstrakte Malerei aus Amerika und Europa / 'Abstract Painting of America and Europe', Brice Marden, Gerhard Richter, Helmut Federle, Robert Mangold, Robert Ryman, Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien/Klagenfurt (1988)
- Kulturen — Verwandschaften in Geist und Form, Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien (1991)
- Abstrakte Malerei zwischen Analyse und Synthese / 'Abstract Painting Between Analysis and Synthesis', Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien/Klagenfurt (1992)
- Numerous artist catalogues

Gary Tatintsian Gallery is located in Moscow and dedicated to organising exhibitions of American and European contemporary art.

Kamakura Gallery was first established in Tokyo Ginza in 1981, by Nakamura Michiko. Now based in Kamakura, the gallery exhibits many important Conceptual and Minimalist artists, and presents artists from the Japanese Mono-ha movement. 

Kukje Gallery has been a pivotal cultural hub in Seoul, Korea since its inception in 1982. Kukje Gallery is located in the heart of Samcheong-dong, a historically and culturally significant district. The gallery boasts three unique buildings, each titled according to its age: K1, K2, and K3. K2 opened in 2007 to celebrate the gallery’s 25th anniversary, and K3 opened in 2012 to commemorate its 30th anniversary.

Committed to showcasing both international and Korean artists, Kukje is widely celebrated for its diverse and ambitious programming. Specializing in modern and contemporary art, Kukje is often the first venue in Korea to present prominent artists, and major exhibitions have been staged to introduce leading international artists such as Anthony Caro, Anselm Kiefer, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Donald Judd, Anish Kapoor, Bill Viola, Roni Horn, Candida Höfer, Julian Opie, Paul McCarthy, Jenny Holzer, Eva Hesse and Jean-Michel Othoniel.

In conjunction with its focus on international artists, Kukje is committed to promoting Korean artists abroad, introducing artists such as Haegue Yang, Kimsooja, Gimhongsok, Kyungah Ham, Yeondoo Jung, Sora Kim and Jae-Eun Choi at major art fairs around the world. Just as importantly, Kukje has made a strong commitment to post-war Korean artists including Ha Chong-Hyun, Lee Ufan, Chung Chang-Sup, Kwon Young-Woo, Park Seo-Bo, and Chung Sang-Hwa. In particular, Kukje has played a critical role in introducing Korean artists to important collectors, museums and cultural venues around the world, and many Korean artists supported by Kukje Gallery have exhibited in international biennials and major museum exhibitions.

These projects along with the gallery’s ambitious and scholarly exhibition catalogues and ongoing lecture series are what make Kukje a significant contributor in shaping Korea’s cultural landscape. Building on its unmatched reputation, Kukje continues to play a key role in developing the domestic art market as well as providing an important venue for introducing international trends.

Lisson Gallery is one of the most influential and longest-running international contemporary art galleries in the world. Today the gallery supports and develops 61 international artists across two exhibition spaces in London and two in New York as well as its new space in Shanghai. Established in 1967 by Nicholas Logsdail, Lisson Gallery pioneered the early careers of important Minimal and Conceptual artists, such as Art & Language, Carl Andre, Daniel Buren, Donald Judd, John Latham, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long and Robert Ryman among many others. It still works with many of these artists as well as other artists of that generation from Carmen Herrera to the renowned estates of Leon Polk Smith, Ted Stamm and Roy Colmer.

In its second decade the gallery introduced significant British sculptors to the public for the first time, including Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, Anish Kapoor, Shirazeh Houshiary and Julian Opie. Since 2000, the gallery has gone on to represent many more leading international artists such as Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, John Akomfrah, Susan Hiller and Tatsuo Miyajima. It is also responsible for raising the international profile of a younger generation of artists led by Cory Arcangel, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Ryan Gander, Haroon Mirza, Laure Prouvost, Pedro Reyes and Wael Shawky.

Pace is a leading contemporary art gallery representing many of the most significant international artists and estates of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

Under the leadership of President and CEO Marc Glimcher, Pace is a vital force within the art world and plays a critical role in shaping the history, creation, and engagement with modern and contemporary art. Since its founding by Arne Glimcher in 1960, Pace has developed a distinguished legacy for vibrant and dedicated relationships with renowned artists. As the gallery approaches the start of its seventh decade, Pace’s mission continues to be inspired by our drive to support the world’s most influential and innovative artists and to share their visionary work with people around the world.  

Pace advances this mission through its dynamic global program, comprising ambitious exhibitions, artist projects, public installations, institutional collaborations, and curatorial research and writing. Today, Pace has ten locations worldwide: three galleries in New York; one in London; one in Geneva; one in Palo Alto, California; one in Beijing; two in Hong Kong; and one in Seoul. Pace will open a new flagship gallery in New York, anticipated for completion in fall 2019. In 2016, Pace joined with Futurecity to launch Future\Pace—an international cultural partnership innovating multidisciplinary projects for art in the public realm.

SCAI THE BATHHOUSE is a contemporary art gallery known for introducing Japan's avant-garde artists to the world as well as for helping exceptional artists from abroad to establish a presence in Japan. SCAI has a strong track-record of large-scale exhibitions presenting artists such as Lee Ufan and Tadanori Yokoo who led the genesis of Japanese contemporary art, and Toshikatsu Endo, Tatsuo Miyajima, and Mariko Mori who brought Japanese contemporary art to the world's attention in the latter half of the '80s and the '90s by showing their works in international exhibitions. Through their association with SCAI, international artists such as Anish Kapoor and Julian Opie have produced new series of works inspired by Japanese traditional culture and crafts.

SCAI also works to discover and promote young artists. Recent successes include stars of international biennales and of well-acclaimed exhibitions at major art museums, such as Kohei Nawa, Nobuko Tsuchiya, Toru Kamiya, Katsuhiro Saiki, Jeppe Hein, Dzine, and Brian Alfred.

In addition to gallery exhibitions, SCAI has also been responsible for numerous site-specific projects, including public art by Tatsuo Miyajima and Louise Bourgeois at Roppongi Hills, and Julian Opie's commissioned work at Omotesando Hills.

SCAI THE BATHHOUSE opened in 1993 with the completion of the renovation of Kashiwayu, a venerable public bath with a 200-year history. The outside of the bathhouse possesses an elegant atmosphere, with its tiled roof and towering chimney. Take one step inside and you find yourself in a very unique exhibition area, a neutral space with white walls, a concrete floor and natural light descending from the high ceiling. Located in the traditional shitamachi (downtown) Yanaka district, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE lies in middle of an art zone, conveniently close to Ueno where many museums and art universities can be found. The gallery is a six-minute walk from the South Exit of JR Yamanote Nippori Station, and a seven-minute walk from Nezu Station on the Chiyoda Line.

Zoe Butt is the artistic director of The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, the first purpose-built space for contemporary art in Vietnam. Founded in March 2016, the Centre was designed by HTAP Architects in an old steel warehouse, with cargo shipping containers added to its structure. Initiated as a social enterprise...

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