On September 5, the Frieze Seoul Art Fair concluded at the Seoul International Convention and Exhibition Center in South Korea. This is Fritz's first fair in Asia and is considered to be a benchmark for Art Basel in Hong Kong. However, is Seoul Fritz worth the hype? What is the meaning of the word "Asia" in the art market?
The scene of the 2022 Seoul Frieze Expo. Photo by Lets Studio. Courtesy Lets Studio and Frieze.
In 2003, the London Frieze Art Fair made its debut and quickly became one of the four major art fairs in Europe. After entering Europe and the United States, Fritz's first expo in Asia landed in Seoul, South Korea, which not only attracted the attention of the industry, but also made the Korean and even Asian art market excited.
Jason Haam, a young Korean gallerist whose gallerist in the north of Seoul works by non-Korean artists, describes the presence of Seoul Frieze as "like the Olympics were held in South Korea, and I just want to be a part of it." ”
There is no doubt that the parade that snakes through the entrance to the fair is more of a sporting event than an art fair. And the team isn't in Frieze's iconic tent, but in the huge and less personalized Seoul International Convention center, however, the show that takes place at this convention center may have a more lasting impact on the competition.
Booth at Perotin Gallery.
The Asian art market has long been influenced by a number of factors, including funding. With Fritz moving into Seoul, is it possible to build a new art trading center? Seoul Frieze is seen as the culmination of an art movement that began with international galleries such as Pace, Thaddaeus Ropac and Perotin in Seoul. James Lee, who started out as a consulting firm and now runs a contemporary art gallery in Seoul called BB&M, called the arrival of these "blue-chip galleries" "beneficial." While this bodes well, will it lead to success for Seoul Frieze? Arguments are still needed.
Seoul Friez Hall C overlooks.
Seoul Frieze doesn't look much different from other city art fairs or Friez Masters Shows. Still typical of art hanging on the booth, most galleries strive to deliver first-class work, even though Katherine Bernhardt seems to appear more often than most artists.
Most notably, the Acquavella Gallery in New York curated an amazing portfolio of works in the Frieze Masters Section. At the center of their booth was Andy Warhol's monumental work Troy, along with an atypical but eye-catching Basquiat Bird, next to Picasso's Woman in a Red Beret and Mondrian's Composition II, Yellow, Red, and Blue. London-based art dealer Richard Nagy did the same trick at Art Basel 2019, turning the booth into a platform for showcasing early Austrian Expressionist works with a collection of extraordinary works by Egon Schiller, and perhaps for collectors less familiar with the period, Richard Nagy's position became a guide for collecting.
At the booth at the Aquivila Gallery, Picasso's Woman in a Red Beret.
Unusually, 3 out of 18 booths in the Master Exhibition area were selling manuscripts and books. Daniel Crouch Rare Books, owner of Daniel Crouch Rare Books, said that his participation in Seoul Frieze was no accident, "Printing is an invention of the East, and Orientals know how to appreciate the meticulousness of printing" "I have been in business with some Korean institutions and private collectors for about 18 years. This suggests that South Korea has a mature group of collectors, which in part explains what Crouch described as an "off-crunchingly busy" day.
2022 Seoul Frieze Daniel Crouch Rare Book Bookstore Booth
Austria's Tadas Gallery, which opened its space in Seoul a year ago, confirmed the strength of the Korean collector community. "There's a great art academy, great artists, a professional curatorial team, and it's one of the most private museums in the world." The gallery owner said.
Of course, he was describing a group of local collectors, with wealthy young people not to be taken lightly. The most eye-catching thing at the show was the excitement surrounding the arrival of RM, the actor of the "Squid Game" and the rapper of the K-pop star "Bulletproof Less Bulletproof Group" (BTS). The gallery saw the connection between these entertainment stars and young collectors — RM was outspoken about his support for the arts, and the Bulletproof Youth League promoted visual arts and exhibitions as part of its activities — he said: "K-pop music has a big impact on the younger generation of collectors." "Collectors are young and well educated, and that's where the fun is."
Booth at Bank Gallery, Frieze, Seoul 2022
This shows that Seoul Frieze is an exhibition that performs well in a local environment, but it does not mean that it can become another gateway to the Asian market, as the gallery hopes. Brett Gorvy, one of the founders of LGDR, put it: "Where can Asia find a strong audience apart from China?" He gave a "deliberate" view of Seoul Frieze as just one part of its Strategic Stone for Asia. Any trade show has a local character, and Seoul seems to have a special flavor. "Most fair sales end on the first day of the collector's preview, and if you're lucky, there may be sales the next day. On the second day of the Basel Fair in Switzerland, often important collectors leave. But in Seoul, it feels like every day we have different people coming and someone will come back again. Grey said. As a result, LGDR takes an unconventional display, preparing different works each day to express a different aspect of the gallery. On the first day of the booth, Joel Mesler's LA Koreatown-style works were well integrated into the Korean environment.
2022 Frieze, Seoul, Booth at Dastan Gallery, Iran
The Dastan Gallery in Iran was one of the focal points of the fair. After talking to Dastan gallery owner Hormoz Hematian, I learned that they were showing ali Bekhshti's work. Rendering patterns of local carpets into 3D graphics, these black and white ink works have a static aesthetic that uses techniques related to traditional Chinese ink paintings. "Iran isn't the first place that comes to mind when people hear the word 'Asia,' but it's largely part of Asian culture." Hematian said.
Booth silverlens Galleries, 2022 Frieze, Seoul
Although Fritz has managed to bring new audiences to many of the participating galleries and breathe new life into local galleries, it is very Korean. But in terms of the number of works sold, the fair was a success. But it is still slightly inferior to its Asian rival Art Basel in Hong Kong, which sometimes sells works for more than $10 million. But what is the meaning of the word "Asia" in the art market? There are a variety of markets throughout Asia, and anyone with global ambitions must find a way to get close to them.
2022 Seoul Frieze Public Area
Partially sold works
Hauserworth George Condo, $2.8 million
George Condor, Red Composition, 2022
In the Asian market, there has always been a strong interest in George Condor's Picasso-style paintings. In 2021, the Shanghai Long Museum (West Bund) held its largest solo exhibition to date for Condor, exhibiting more than 200 works. In 2020, his work sold for $6.58 million at Christie's Hong Kong auction, setting his own auction record.
George Condor's craze continues in Frieze, Seoul, where Hauserworth reportedly sold one of his new 2022 works to a private art museum in South Korea for $2.8 million. Hauserworth also unveiled a new work by Mark Bradford that was sold for $1.8 million.
Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Georges Condor, $1.5 million
George Condor, The Outline of a Smile, 2022
Maggis Gallery also felt the passion of Asian collectors for Condor, and his 2022 new work, The Silhouette of a Smile, was sold to a Chinese collector for $1.5 million. Like many of Condor's works, this work draws on Picasso's portrait, showing teeth, eyes and hair. If the gallery's sales report is credible, Condor alone will bring in at least $4.3 million in sales for Seoul Frieze.
Pace Gallery, Adam Pendleton, $475,000
Adam Pendleton, Untitled (We're Not), 2022
Not many other artists' works have been sold at prices close to those of George Condor or Bradford, but some other galleries say they sell them at prices that can rank among the highest selling prices for works by agency artists.
Pace Gallery announced that Adam Pendleton's 2022 Untitled (We're Not) sold for $475,000, just $30,000 less than his auction record. The piece, which is similar to his work at the 2021 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, is an example of Pendleton rendering ambiguous textual phrases, as he once said, that the world is "either black or white."
Riesson Gallery, Anish Kapoor, £775,000
Kapoor, Random Triangle Mirror, 2015
The Ritson Gallery sold a number of works, including Anish Kapoor's Random Triangle Mirror for £775,000 and Hugh Hayden's Red, White, and Blonde for $120,000, and his chinese artist Li Ran also sold "The Annoying Spring Breeze" for $24,000.
LGDR, Joel Messler
Works by Joel Messler
LGDR Gallery in New York said all of Joel Messler's works brought to its booth on VIP's first day had been sold or reserved for buyers. Joel Messler's work is often known for exaggerated polychromatic motifs. Gallery staff said the works were worth between $25,000 and $175,000. Still, that's a fraction of the $907,200 Messler auctioned at Christie's in New York earlier this year.
Lehmann Maupin, Lee Bul, $260,000
Li Xun, Perdu CXXXIX, 2022
Many Western galleries have chosen to focus on Western artists in Frids, Seoul, and Lyman Moping Gallery, which opened its Seoul space in 2017, while largely in line with this trend, has also given Korean artists such as Lee And Do Ho Suh considerable space.
According to the gallery, Li is one of the best-selling artists in the booth, with her 2022 painting Perdu CXXXIX sold for $260,000. Other works in the same series reportedly sold for $190,000 at the Tadas Gallery booth.
Belgian gallery Xavier Hufkens, Sterling Ruby,
Sterling Ruby, Turbine Series, 2022
The Khufkens Gallery in Brussels handed over the entire booth to Sterling Ruby and said that every piece had found a buyer. These new abstract works, which cost between $375,000 and $475,000, form a series called "Turbines," whose materials are sprinkled on large canvases in a kind of aftermath reminiscent of the wind.
Note: This article is compiled from a report by Apollo website author Edward Behrens and ARTnews author Alex Greenberger of the Seoul Frieze Fair.