May Auctions Fuel Art Market Boom
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
The art market in Korea has been enjoying an unprecedented boom for months now. Securities firms launched the nation's first-ever art funds last September, and novices freshly caught by the collecting bug flock to every possible opportunity to hone their skills, including the Korea International Art Fair currently underway at COEX in southern Seoul.
At a time when buying artwork looks set to replace even investment in real estate for brandishing richness and taste alike for the nouveau riche, auction houses in Seoul are enjoying a heyday. And they are determined to fuel the already heated market further.
This month, two leading auction houses will roll out rare items that could gather more customers and drive record-setting prices higher at bidding sessions.
Seoul Auction plans to put up a piece by Park Soo-keun (1914-1965), arguably modern Korea's most renowned painter, on sale in its upcoming session on May 22 at the Seoul Auction Space in Pyeongchang-dong. ``A Wash Place,'' which critics assume Park drew in the late 1950s, is expected to be sold at a price between 3.5 to 4.5 billion won ($3.8 - 4.8 million), the highest ever for a painting by a Korean painter.
The company also brings ``Flower and Jar,'' a 1957 work by Kim Whan-ki (1913-1974), another master painter, introduced to Korea for the first time. The piece is expected to sell at a price between 2-3 billion won.
Another item that is catching special attention is ``Sun, Moon and Five Peaks,'' a historical painted folding screen that used to stand behind the king's chair during the Joseon Kingdom period as a symbol of royal authority. It is the first time that one of the royal folding screens, of which 10 reportedly remain, is to go on sale. The 19th-century screen is 174.5 centimeters high, and the estimated price is between 800 million to 1.2 billion won.
Seoul Auction will also put the works of contemporary Chinese artists on sale, including an oil painting from Zhang Xiaogang, whose works have proved popular with global auction houses.
Rival Korea Premier Auction, or K Auction, is relocating its sales venue from its Sagan-dong headquarters to the Hyatt Hotel in Hannam-dong on May 15.
In the sale, the house expects to reap a whopping 10 billion won in total sales volume, with the works of Park and Kim also up front with other popular master painters such as Chun Kyung-ja and Lee U-fan. Chun's 1978 African painting, ``Meadow II,'' is expected to set a record price for her work at an estimated 1.1-1.5 billion won.
Some galleries have locked horns with auction houses over the role of the dominant player in the art market, and there is also a concern that the auctions will result in greater commercialization of art.
But it is evident that the auctions have enlivened the market and helped the broader public gain access to art, Lee Ho-jae, the director of the Gana Art Center, said.
``As higher prices keep setting new records, both owners and collectors are now less shy about selling and buying the artworks,'' he said, predicting more active trading on the market.