{"id":7213,"date":"2021-10-05T22:18:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T13:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/?post_type=insights&p=7213"},"modified":"2021-10-05T22:33:12","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T13:33:12","slug":"why-the-art-world-is-pivoting-towards-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/insights\/7213","title":{"rendered":"Why the Art World Is Pivoting Towards South Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why the Art World Is Pivoting Towards South Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Sam Gaskin<\/a><\/p>\n

South Korea is more than just a viable option in a complicated region. Galleries are especially buoyed by the rise of a new generation of collectors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Installation view of K\u00d6NIG SEOUL rooftop. Courtesy: K\u00d6NIG GALERIE Berlin \/ London \/ Seoul.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South Korea has never been more important to the art world.<\/p>\n

International galleries are opening spaces in\u00a0Seoul<\/a>\u00a0at a rapid clip, and in September 2022 Frieze will launch its first Asian fair in the city in partnership with\u00a0Kiaf Seoul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ocula Magazine<\/em>\u00a0spoke to gallery directors, art advisors, and auction staff about the market’s rise ahead of this year’s Kiaf Seoul from 13 to 17 October.<\/p>\n

The Art Basel Bump<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long before global galleries arrived, South Korea had a strong domestic art market.<\/p>\n

‘South Korea’s contemporary art scene has always been very active, and with major art fairs such as KIAF founded there two decades ago drawing international attention, and a strong domestic market with two local auction houses, it became well developed ahead of many other Asian markets early on,’ said Alice Lung, a partner at\u00a0Perrotin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Local galleries such as\u00a0Gallery Hyundai<\/a>\u00a0(since 1970),\u00a0Kukje Gallery<\/a>\u00a0(since 1982), and\u00a0Arario Gallery<\/a>\u00a0(since 1989) helped establish a vibrant scene that has since been supported by institutions with strong reputations abroad such as the\u00a0Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art<\/a>\u00a0(since 2004).<\/p>\n

However, it was only after seeing Korean collectors’ interest in global art spike\u2014following the arrival of Art Basel in Hong Kong in 2013\u2014that big international galleries\u00a0Lehmann Maupin<\/a>, Perrotin, and\u00a0Pace Gallery<\/a>\u00a0decided to take up spaces in Seoul.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles gallery Various Small Fires arrived in 2019, followed by\u00a0K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/a>\u00a0in April this year.\u00a0Thaddaeus Ropac<\/a>\u00a0will open their Seoul gallery this month, and\u00a0Gladstone Gallery<\/a>\u00a0recently announced that they’ll also opening a space in the city.<\/p>\n

A New Crop of Young Collectors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Especially exciting to dealers is a new demographic of Korean collectors.<\/p>\n

‘Korea has had a small number of major collectors buying international contemporary art for a while but recently a new crop of young collectors has emerged,’ said\u00a0Ocula advisor<\/a>\u00a0Rory Mitchell. ‘They are hungry to learn and rapidly building significant private collections of Western contemporary art.’<\/p>\n

‘While there is still obviously demand for Korean artists such as\u00a0Lee Ufan<\/a>,\u00a0Yun Hyong-keun<\/a>, and\u00a0Ha Chong-hyun<\/a>, many collectors are now looking at\u00a0David Hockney<\/a>\u00a0or even younger, newly-crowned hot painters from the US and Europe, such as\u00a0Adrian Ghenie<\/a>,\u00a0Laura Owens<\/a>,\u00a0Urs Fischer<\/a>, and\u00a0George Condo<\/a>,’ Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

Sotheby’s Heather Kim agrees that this younger demographic of collectors\u2014people in their 30s and 40s\u2014has been enticing for international galleries and art fairs.<\/p>\n

She said Korean collectors have always been pioneers when it comes to collecting contemporary art in Asia, keeping a close eye on auctions in\u00a0New York<\/a>,\u00a0London<\/a>, and\u00a0Hong Kong<\/a>. As of late, they’ve been actively looking for artists such as\u00a0Nicolas Party<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jonas Wood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Esther Kim Varet, founder of\u00a0Various Small Fires<\/a>, said the growing number of young contemporary art collectors is also creating opportunities for smaller galleries.<\/p>\n

‘We’re not coming in with blue chip artists that might be recognisable on the secondary market, but we are coming in with very desirable primary market artists,’ said Kim Varet.<\/p>\n

‘We’re doing the groundwork of introducing a section of the [international] art world that’s very contemporary that they might have heard about or seen on Instagram but don’t have access to,’ she said.<\/p>\n

Kim Varet believes Korean collectors are excited to discover international artists sooner, before they have their first major institutional show.<\/p>\n

‘Koreans are very smart about understanding trends, and they tend to want to be early,’ she said.<\/p>\n

On the back of Seoul’s rapid ascent, more people are collecting international contemporary art around the country.<\/p>\n

‘After five years in Seoul we now have clients visiting from Dae-gu, Gwangju, Busan, and all across the country,’ said Youngjoo Lee, director of Pace’s Seoul gallery.<\/p>\n

Tax, Rent, and an Inherent Interest in Art<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seoul offers galleries a foothold in Asia without having to deal with the financial and political risks of setting up in China, by far the region’s biggest art market.<\/p>\n

When it comes to choosing whether or not to do business in Korea, Lee pointed to ‘a rich history in modern art stemming from the 1970s, an inherent interest in art in the Korean people compared to other Asian countries, and an increasing interest in Korean culture from the outside.’<\/p>\n

‘I’m sure that zero tax for trading art and cheaper rent than Hong Kong are also factors,’ she added.<\/p>\n

Art professionals including a spokesperson for Art Basel, Taipei Dangdai co-director Robin Peckham, and Soo Choi, founder of Seoul’s\u00a0P21<\/a>\u00a0gallery and managing director of K\u00d6NIG GALERIE’s new Seoul location, all agree that the Korean art market is now strong enough to sustain its own major international art fair.<\/p>\n

That bodes well for Frieze Seoul in 2022.<\/p>\n

A version of this story also appears in the catalogue of Kiaf Seoul 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/picture><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[50,52],"class_list":["post-7213","insights","type-insights","status-publish","hentry","category-insight","category-articles"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insights\/7213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insights"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insights"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}