Lee Ufan signs the new illy Art Collection an invitation to dialogue represented through his minimalistic brushstrokes

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Oct 11, 2023, 09:00 ET

TRIESTE, Italy, Oct. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffè presents the new illy Art Collection signed by the artist and scholar Lee Ufan. The Korean-born and Japan-based Lee Ufan is one of the founders of the Mono-Ha ("School of things") avant-garde, a non-conformist artistic movement based on the study of nature and of raw and manufactured materials that emerged in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Lee reflects on dualisms he then expresses through the measured use of his brushstrokes within a defined space, or by allowing artificial and natural elements to play off one another. He works internationally and is considered one of Asia's leading post-minimalist artists.

His constant search for essentiality is reflected in the decorations for his new illy Art Collection, which references reductionist painting, with its fluid brushstrokes and lines, where every gesture plays an important role. Through his lines, the artist expresses his concept of encounter, that moment in time and space when the brush meets the canvas. The surface of the illy Art Collection cup is left partially unpainted, as Lee Ufan preserves the necessary space to highlight the relationship between the white porcelain and his creation. It is also his way to spur us to reflect on the importance of moderation and simplicity, an initiation to pay attention to our surrounding environment and to concentrate on what Lee calls "the world as it is".

All of his art is steeped in philosophy: the origin of each piece lies in long meditation sessions and deep concentration, in an act of creation that is almost a performance in itself, since it is perceived by the artist as a moment of encounter, a privileged way to search for and reveal reality beyond appearance.

"We are very pleased that we have created this illy Art Collection with Lee Ufan, an artist who has conquered us for his ability to describe complex concepts through the essentiality of the traits – says Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè - by designing these cups the artist wanted to ideally offer us the physical and temporal space to dedicate to people and to the environment that surrounds us, a coffee break to live with the simplicity that his artistic thought transmits to us".

"The brushstroke with which I created the illy Art Collection express relationships and their complex nature, which we must simplify in order to grasp their true energy and power – says Lee Ufan - connections that are also created thanks to a cup of coffee and the ritual that has been built around human relationships, developing moments of meeting and true socialization".

The illy Art Collection signed by Lee Ufan will be premiered at the Frieze London international contemporary art fair on October 11^th of this year.

The illy Art Collection will be available from October on the illy e-shop, illy Caffé and illy Shop stores, large-scale retail outlets, and indirect e-commerce channels.

2 espresso cups at a suggested retail price of € 51,00 TBC
2 cappuccino cups at a suggested retail price of € 61,00 TBC

Lee Ufan

Currently based in Tokyo and Paris, Lee Ufan was born in 1936, Korea. He graduated from Nihon University, Department of Philosophy, Tokyo in 1961 and served as Professor Emeritus at Tama Art University. He is one of the leading figures of Mono-ha (School of Things), a contemporary art movement emerging in the late 1960s.

Major exhibitions include Lee Ufan (2001, Kunstmuseum Bonn), Lee Ufan: The Art of Margins (2005, Yokohama Museum of Art), Resonance (2007, Venice Biennale), Lee Ufan (2008, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium), Marking Infinity (2011, Guggenheim Museum NYC), Lee Ufan Versailles (2014, Château de Versailles), Lee Ufan. Inhabiting Time (2019, Centre Pompidou-Metz) and Lee Ufan: Open Dimension (2019, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden).

illy Art Collection

For illycaffè, whose distinctive values are Good, Goodness, Beauty, contemporary art adds beauty to taste. The beauty that illycaffè strives for comes from the ancient Greek concept of kalokagathìa, which combines kalòs (beautiful) and agathòs (good) to create a new meaning in which beauty and goodness become inseparable: one depends on the other. The illy Art Collection cups are a tangible expression of this concept. The project was born in 1992, and through it, the company turned an everyday object into a blank canvas by inviting contemporary artists to express their creativity on the espresso cup that Matteo Thun designed for illy. Over the years, more than one hundred internationally renowned artists worked on this canvas, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, James Rosenquist, William Kentridge, Mona Hatoum, Robert Wilson, Ai Weiwei and more…

illycaffè is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933 which has always set itself the mission of offering the best coffee to the world. It produces a unique 100% Arabica blend composed of 9 different ingredients. The company selects only 1% of the best Arabica beans in the world. Every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafés, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafés and shops, at home and in the office, in which the company is present through subsidiaries and distributors. Since its foundation, illycaffè has oriented its strategies towards a sustainable business model, commitment that it strengthened in 2019 by adopting the status of Benefit Company and in 2021 becoming the first Italian coffee company to obtain the international B Corp certification. Since 2013 the company is also one of the World Most Ethical Companies. Everything that is "made in illy" is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 125 international artists, or coffee machines designed by internationally renowned designers. With the aim of spreading the culture of quality to growers, baristas and coffee lovers, the company has developed its Università del Caffè which today holds courses in 25 countries around the world. In 2021, Rhône Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffè with the aim of contributing to the company's international growth plans.

In 2022, the company had 1230 employees and a turnover of €567,7 million. The illy single-brand network has 190 points of sale in 34 countries.

SOURCE illycaffè