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| Artist Lee U-fan |
Artist Lee U-fan said he is the biggest victim of the recent forgery scandal involving his works.
Lee, 80, released a statement through his attorney Choi Soon-yong Tuesday saying he has never seen any of the fake paintings.
"The paintings suspected of forgery had been out of my hands for some 30-40 years and I have no idea who owned them through what channel," Lee said in the statement.
Lee attended a press conference unveiling the label he designed for the Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2013 vintage last week, but declined to comment on the issue and his official statement came a few days later.
Lee is one of the best-known living artists of Korea for his "dansaekhwa," or Korean monochrome paintings, as well as "Relatum" rock and metal sculptures exploring the relationships of material objects.
Born in South Gyeongsang Province in 1936, Lee studied painting at the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University for two months before moving to Japan.
There, he set the basics of the Mono-ha, or School of Things, in the 1970s using simple objects based on conceptual art. He held a solo exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2011 and at Versailles in 2014.
Lee is one of the most expensive Korean artists ― his painting "From Line No. 760219" was sold for $2.16 million at Sotheby's auction in New York in 2014. However, the news of forgeries of his work surfaced last year and the auction prices of his works suffered in 2015.
Rumors of fake paintings have surfaced recently as Lee's earlier works are rare and auctioned off at higher prices.
In October 2015, police raided a gallery in Insadong on suspicion of selling a forged Lee painting.
Last month, the certificate of authenticity for Lee's "From Point No. 780217," which was sold for 490 million won ($407,620) at K Auction in December 2015, turned out to be fake and the genuineness of the painting itself is also questioned.
Lee's paintings have serial numbers, and duplication of the serial numbers was one of the reasons for the suspicions.
"I worked in studios in Japan, Korea and France and went back and forth among them for a long time and some of the works have different sequences in the numbering system," the artist said. "There could be overlapping serial numbers, but only a few of them."
Lee added that he is preparing for a catalogue raisonne, a comprehensive list his work which will provide criteria to assess authenticit
Lee, 80, released a statement through his attorney Choi Soon-yong Tuesday saying he has never seen any of the fake paintings.
"The paintings suspected of forgery had been out of my hands for some 30-40 years and I have no idea who owned them through what channel," Lee said in the statement.
Lee attended a press conference unveiling the label he designed for the Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2013 vintage last week, but declined to comment on the issue and his official statement came a few days later.
Lee is one of the best-known living artists of Korea for his "dansaekhwa," or Korean monochrome paintings, as well as "Relatum" rock and metal sculptures exploring the relationships of material objects.
Born in South Gyeongsang Province in 1936, Lee studied painting at the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University for two months before moving to Japan.
There, he set the basics of the Mono-ha, or School of Things, in the 1970s using simple objects based on conceptual art. He held a solo exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2011 and at Versailles in 2014.
Lee is one of the most expensive Korean artists ― his painting "From Line No. 760219" was sold for $2.16 million at Sotheby's auction in New York in 2014. However, the news of forgeries of his work surfaced last year and the auction prices of his works suffered in 2015.
Rumors of fake paintings have surfaced recently as Lee's earlier works are rare and auctioned off at higher prices.
In October 2015, police raided a gallery in Insadong on suspicion of selling a forged Lee painting.
Last month, the certificate of authenticity for Lee's "From Point No. 780217," which was sold for 490 million won ($407,620) at K Auction in December 2015, turned out to be fake and the genuineness of the painting itself is also questioned.
Lee's paintings have serial numbers, and duplication of the serial numbers was one of the reasons for the suspicions.
"I worked in studios in Japan, Korea and France and went back and forth among them for a long time and some of the works have different sequences in the numbering system," the artist said. "There could be overlapping serial numbers, but only a few of them."
Lee added that he is preparing for a catalogue raisonne, a comprehensive list his work which will provide criteria to assess authenticit
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