As one of the most significant living Asian artists today, Lee Ufan is the driving force behind the Mono-Ha movement from the late 60s to 70s, and deeply influenced the development of Japanese post-war art. He is also an iconic figure in the Dansaekhwa movement that rose to prominence later in contemporary Korean art scene. Both art movements began on some level as a rebellion against the encroaching western art concepts in East Asia. The artists of these movements looked back at eastern philosophies to make their arguments against western Modernism. A philosophy graduate of the Tokyo Nihon University, Lee Ufan is knowledgeable and has great reasoning skills. When he was young, he chose to express his ideological theories through art, which transcends the limits of language, turning philosophies that developed based on Taoism and Zen teachings into refined art practices. He led East Asian art in a new direction, and not only was he recognized and highly praised by the western world, but also making a lasting impact. Since 1973, Lee Ufan has turned his attention to painting, using minimal elements and colors to continue his exploration of the connection between the artwork, the environment, and the viewer, concepts that he previously explored with his three-dimensional pieces, creating a minimalist style like no other. 2010, Lee Ufan Museum has been operating in Naoshima, Japan.