At a packed Okay Public sale room in Seoul’s upscale Sinsa-dong late final month, the vitality within the room shifted instantly – palpable – when bids opened for Metropolis – Vanishing Panorama 717 (2022) by Jung Younger-joo, a painter identified for her depictions of hillside shantytowns.
Beginning at 45 million gained ($31,069), the piece soared to 110 million gained after a flurry of bids, lifting whole gross sales for the night to three.5 billion gained, about 50% larger than a yr earlier.
The earlier night time, rival Seoul Public sale additionally reported brisk gross sales.
A David Hockney print, initially priced at 200 million gained, went for 370 million gained after intense bidding from native and abroad artwork lovers and collectors.
Nam June Paik’s Edison, supplied on the identical beginning worth, closed at 350 million gained.
The session’s whole, 5.3 billion gained, marked a greater than 70% leap from October final yr.
For an artwork market that had languished for practically two years, these outcomes have been hailed as an early signal of a thaw.
HIGH-VALUE ARTWORKS LEAD REBOUND
After a protracted stoop since 2022, public sale outcomes started bettering from the third quarter this yr.
In accordance with Korea Artwork Authentication & Appraisal Inc., the mixed hammer whole of the nation’s 9 main public sale homes reached 31.35 billion gained within the third quarter, up 32% from a yr earlier.
Driving that surge had been blue-chip, high-value artworks.
Lee Jung-seop’s Cow and Baby offered for 3.52 billion gained at Okay Public sale in September, setting the quarter’s report worth, whereas Park Soo-keun’s Mountain (1959) fetched 1.2 billion gained.
The development continued into October, when the minimalist painter and sculptor Lee Ufan’s With Winds and Kim Whanki’s Untitled offered for 850 million gained and 780 million gained, respectively at Okay Public sale.
Seoul Public sale noticed Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Nets collection change fingers at 1.9 billion gained.
“The variety of heaps has declined, however the high quality has gone up, and so have costs,” a researcher at Korea Artwork Authentication & Appraisal.
Collectors have grow to be extra selective as they return to the market, he mentioned.
SIGNS OF RECOVERY
Momentum was additionally seen at September’s Korea Worldwide Artwork Honest (KIAF)–Frieze Seoul, held at COEX.
Mark Bradford’s Okay, then I apologize offered for about 6.3 billion gained – the very best worth ever recorded for an art work at a good in Korea.
Worldwide galleries equivalent to White Dice and Thaddaeus Ropac every offered Georg Baselitz works within the 2 billion gained vary, whereas native gallery Hakgojae positioned Kim Whanki’s Clouds and Moon for two billion gained.
“The artwork market has spent a very long time consolidating on the backside,” mentioned a Seoul-based gallerist. “Now, we’re lastly seeing indicators of a cautious restoration.”
BROADER BASE OF COLLECTORS – AND BUOYANT STOCK MARKET
A part of the rebound displays a base impact, given how sharply volumes fell final yr.
Public sale turnover shrank by double digits from mid-2022 via the primary quarter of this yr, as speculative traders retreated.
However sellers additionally level to a broader cultural shift.
Public curiosity in artwork has expanded via main museum retrospectives, equivalent to the present Kim Tschang-yeul exhibitions on the Nationwide Museum of Trendy and Modern Artwork.
In Seoul Public sale and Okay Public sale’s October gross sales, eight of the ten Kim Tschang-yeul items supplied discovered consumers.
Whereas speculative “flipping” of conventional dansaekhwa, or Korean monochrome, works has subsided, a brand new wave of collectors pushed by private style, not simply funding, is stepping in.
At Okay Public sale, Received Gye-hong’s Rose leapt from 3 million gained to 17 million gained, whereas Kim Solar-woo’s Rendezvous smashed its higher estimate, promoting for 71 million gained from a 29 million gained opening bid.
RISING STOCK MARKET PLAYS ITS PART
A robust equities market has additionally performed its half.
With the benchmark Kospi inventory index hovering at report highs, traders have recent liquidity to deploy – and traditionally, artwork markets are likely to comply with bull runs in monetary property.
Nonetheless, warning prevails amongst some observers.
“The rebound is being pushed by a handful of main artists,” mentioned Jeong Joon-mo, former chief curator on the Nationwide Museum of Trendy and Modern Artwork. “It’s too early to name this a broad-based restoration. Uncertainty stays excessive.”
For now, although, the sight of a Nam June Paik video sculpture hammering down at 350 million gained – after months of quiet rooms and unsold heaps – has given Seoul’s artwork market one thing it hasn’t had in a while: a way of momentum, analysts mentioned.
