Frieze Seoul Sees Strong Sales Amid Economic Uncertainty

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Frieze Seoul galleries reported better-than-expected sales during the opening day of the fifth edition of the fair, despite a climate of economic uncertainty. The event is underway at the Coex convention center in the Gangnam district and runs through Saturday.

Economic signals from the Korean art world and wider Korean economy have been mixed. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has doubled over the past year but has decreased by almost 25 percent since its mid-June peak. While semiconductor exports have risen, shifts in real estate policy and a weak Korean won have caused market turbulence.

Lucida Kyungmin Lee, director of art market research at Meetingroom, an art-information platform, noted the impact on high-priced works.“For high-priced works, Korean collectors are now more likely to look abroad or buy from overseas galleries where purchases are made in dollars,” Lee said.“With the dollar an attractive option, less money is likely to flow into the art market.”

Big-name gallery booths attracted international curators and collectors, as well as young local collectors. Celebrities such as actors Han So-hee and Jung Il-woo, along with The8 from the boy band Seventeen and Annie of Allday Project, were in attendance. A public art project by Ryan Gander, involving 16,000 minted coins deposited across Seoul, drew fan engagement.

A record 133 galleries are participating in Frieze Seoul this year. However, prominent veterans Perrotin and Massimo De Carlo are not exhibiting. De Carlo is presenting a pop-up show with abstract painter Hejum Bä in the Seochon neighborhood. Paula Cooper Gallery, a past participant, is instead hosting a group exhibition at Frieze House Seoul, featuring artists such as Meg Webster, Terry Adkins, and Sol LeWitt.

Last month, The Korea Economic Daily published a report suggesting that the absence of Perrotin and De Carlo indicated declining appeal for Frieze, though many galleries have reported significant sales. On opening day, Thaddaeus Ropac sold Adrian Ghenie's Figure with Funerary Stele for €1.1 million (about $1.28 million), an Antony Gormley cast-iron sculpture for £750,000 ($1 million), David Salle's Blue Trunks (2025) for $220,000, and an Alex Katz study for $150,000. New paintings by Korean artist Heemin Chung fetched between $24,000 and $33,000.

Kukje Gallery sold a 1971 abstraction by Yoo Youngkuk for between 2.2 billion KRW and 2.5 billion KRW ($1.62 million–$1.84 million) to a board member of a North American museum. Kukje also sold works by Dansaekhwa artists Ha Chong-Hyun and Park Seo-Bo for more than $300,000 each. Almine Rech sold a 1979 painting by Lee Ufan for its asking price of $1.2 million. Sprüth Magers offered two recent George Condo pieces priced at $2.3 million and $2.6 million. Hauser & Wirth reported strong sales, including Louise Bourgeois's bronze Femme for $600,000, two large paintings by Lorna Simpson for $425,000 and $400,000, and an Angel Otero abstraction, Sea Fans, for $145,000. White Cube sold an €800,000 ($928,000) bronze by Georg Baselitz.

Frieze has demonstrated commitment to South Korea, despite its expansion to Abu Dhabi and acquisition of The Armory Show and Expo Chicago. Next year, the fair will relocate to the Zaha Hadid–designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza while Coex undergoes renovations, with its partner fair, Kiaf Seoul, remaining at Coex. Approximately 70 percent of Frieze Seoul's exhibitors have a presence in the Asia-Pacific region, a significant increase from 2022, and nearly 40 are from Korea.

Frieze has coordinated with museums and galleries to present major exhibitions during the fair. On Thursday evening, venues in the Samcheong-dong neighborhood, including Kukje, remained open late. The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) saw large queues for its Do Ho Suh exhibition.

Lehmann Maupin, a Seoul-based gallery, dedicated its booth to Suh and sold most of his works in the first hours. STPI also featured a solo Suh booth with thread drawings, which a local newspaper reported were priced around $200,000 each, with two selling early. Gagosian's Damien Hirst solo booth also drew crowds, following Hirst's popular MMCA Seoul exhibition earlier this year. Nahyung Kim, director of Thisweekendroom, observed an increase in collectors from across Asia and little negative reaction to higher prices, selling works by Jinhee Kim and Jiwon Choi.

In Frieze Seoul's Focus section, Paris-based MAĀT Gallery sold out its three-walled display of a four-season landscape by Geoffroy Pithon. The gallery had previously sold out its Kiaf presentations for the past two years. This optimism comes as new museums open and galleries expand in Seoul, even as the national art market remains below its 2022 peak of KRW 806.6 billion ($567 million), according to government-affiliated data. Advisor Grace Bak believes the recent market softening will lead to a more stable market, encouraging long-term collectors.

We previously reported:

Seoul's art market is recalibrating as Frieze Seoul returns for its fifth edition and KIAF celebrates its 25th, indicating maturity after boom years.

The South Korean domestic art market contracted by 23.7% to 615.1 billion won ($433 million) in 2024 from its 2022 peak, though it remains above pre-pandemic

Source: Artnet News

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