Lee Ufan Ranked Best-Selling Korean Artist in 2009

By Han Sang-hee

Staff Reporter

Artist Lee Ufan was the most successful Korean artist last year with a total sales worth of $4.16 million (4.6 billion won), according to the online art market Web site Artprice.

The 74-year-old was ranked 164th in Artprice’s report under the category ``Top 500 Artprice 2009 Artists ranked by auction turnover’’ Sunday. Last year his highest bidding was $696,600 and his highest ever was in 2008, at $990,000.

Lee sold a total of 65 lots in 2009, marking the 30th among the most selling surviving artists and 13th among surviving Asians.

Along with Lee, Kim Tschang-yeol ranked 368th, Kim Whan-ki was 484th and video artist Paik Name-june followed at 491th.

Pablo Picasso was ranked No. 1 with $1.2 billion in the auction revenue race, while Andy Warhol followed at $1 billion.

The most selling surviving artist was Chinese abstract artist Zao Wou-ki, selling more than $33 million. American artist Jeff Koons ranked second with $28 million. Damien Hirst, whose work ``Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’’ sold at $171.6 million in 2008, ranked fifth among the surviving artists with $15.9 million.

Lee was born in 1936 in Haman-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, and is internationally considered one of the most influential and widely recognized artists. After studying in Seoul and Tokyo, he participated in the 7th Paris Biennale in 1971.

The annual report compiled by Artprice was based on last year’s records collected from more than 3,600 auction houses around the world.