Young artists lower bars for art buying

Visitors look at paintings which are unlabeled with no artist names or titles, during the Blind Date art fair at Space Willing N Dealing, in Seoul. / Courtesy of Korea Arts Management Service

By Park Jin-hai

Kim Ji-young, a housewife who says her new interests are home styling and interior decorating, visited the Blind Date art fair recently. Unlike other art fairs, the paintings have no artist names or descriptions.

“Paintings make a home warm and unique. I searched online shopping sites to buy ones, but most of them are replicas of well-known artists like van Gogh or Klimt. After I heard about this art market, I thought it might be a good chance to own a young artist’s painting,” she said.

At the fair, 200 pieces by 78 artists are displayed in no specific order. Only after buyers purchase a piece, priced between 100,000 won and 1.5 million won, can they learn the artist’s name and details of their projects.

“It’s also fun that I can appreciate paintings based on my own judgment and feelings with no additional information,” Kim said.

Young artists, feeling the need to shake up the market, teamed up with organizers to try various art fair formats to lower the bar of art markets, rather than just going through galleries. This brings the artists closer to the public.

“Notable for this year’s art fair has been a bigger involvement of ordinary people. Unlike last year, which saw many artist buyers, this year the majority of our customers were non-artists. That suits our purpose to give as many ordinary people as possible the first-time experience to purchase artwork,” said Kim In-seon, director of Space Willing N Dealing, the organizer of the fair.

PACK FW 2017, which kicked off in Seoul, Friday, displays small objects from six artists in transparent cubes. With no artists at the site, visitors can freely look at the art and if they like anything they can buy keys that open the cubes, pack it up themselves and walk away with it at ease.

“The name PACK is coined to express how easy it is to own art. With no interference, visitors can focus on each work of art, buy, pack and carry it with ease at prices ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 won,” said Kim Yun-ik, director of Riverside Express, organizer of the art market. “The display module can be reassembled easily so that artists can exhibit their works wherever their customers are.”

Kim, who held an art fair with young artists in 2015, said there has been a shared feeling they should walk out of galleries. “Galleries are mainly for a limited number of well-known artists. Young artists try various distribution channels to sell their work and many try social media. In this same context, various forms of art fairs are also held,” he said.

“Blind Date sells art with no names on it, while The Scrap sells photographers’ photos like IKEA, printing them out instantly. We sell artists’ limited edition works, closer to being called art, rather than goods made by artists,” he said.

Kim also says he sees people’s increased participation in recent years. “Today’s generation is a generation that consumes images through social media. They tend to start thinking they want to hang the art they see on smartphones on the walls of their rooms,” he said. “Part of it is also helped by celebrities sharing photos on social media of their homes with paintings.”

Starting with an art space Mudaeruk, in Hapjeong-dong, western Seoul, PACK FW 2017 (pack-edition.com) will be held in two other places in Seoul before Dec. 17, where 18 artists will sell their work.

“We aim to make people recognize that owning art is not a luxury allowed only to a limited number of privileged people. By holding a fair that people can access easily, we ultimately want to hold it in other parts of Korea,” said Kim.

Changes in art markets are not limited to exhibition styles or places. Along with some artists who choose cafes or studios to exhibit and sell their art instead of galleries, other artists find more creative types of art fairs.

The Scrap (

facebook.com/thescrap.info

) will have 1,000 photographs taken by 100 photographers, giving no information about the artists or titles. During the from Dec. 13 to 17 in Yongdu-dong, eastern Seoul, visitors can shop for photos printed on the spot for 30,000 won for five photos and 50,000 won for 10.

Perform 2017, which ended Nov. 5, has been a rare fair where performing arts were traded. Held at Arario Museum in Seoul, performances and visual arts have been showcased and sold. When a customer purchases it, the performer will visit the place the customer wants and showcase the performance. Since the demand for performance art is still limited, it is mainly sold for company events.

At PACK FW 2017, visitors can buy art displayed in a transparent cube and pack them home on their own. / Courtesy of KAMS