Lee Ufan Says Forged Works are Authentic

Artforum.com reported last month on a Korean gallerist who was indicted for forging several of Lee Ufan’s works. The gallerist, only referred to by his surname, Hyeong, sold a handful of them for $1.1 million. Hyeong confessed to the forgeries at a recent hearing at the Seoul Central District Court. After a yearlong police investigation into the case, however, Lee said that all the works are, indeed, authentic, writes Sarah Kim in the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“On June 27,” said Lee, “police asked me to acknowledge that the four pieces that Mr. Hyeon admitted to having forged were indeed fakes in an attempt to reach a compromise, but I refused.” Lee, with a magnifying glass and two catalogues of his work, inspected the fakes. After four hours of scrutiny in front of Seoul police, the artist said, “The use of breath, rhythm, and color were all my techniques. An artist can recognize his own piece at a glance.”

The police, though respectful of Lee’s statement, will continue the investigation. Now that it seems that the police tried coercing Lee into saying the works were forgeries, there is further controversy regarding who’s telling the truth.