Not just Squid Game and BTS – Frieze art fair affirms vibrant art scene in South Korea

“Many young people tasted bitter losses from stock and crypto investments and artwork appeared a safe bet, especially after high-profile success cases,” said Hwang Dal-seung, president of the Galleries Association of Korea.

The late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee left a trove of antiques and artworks – including works by Claude Monet, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso – reportedly worth two to three trillion won, which had soared in value during his decades-long ownership, Hwang added.

Schneider said South Korea was a “microcosm of Asia” in terms of the rise of collectors born after 1980, who now exercise heavy influence on the market.

“Buyers from this age group and this region have been reshaping the hierarchy of which artists are most in demand internationally, as well as significantly ramping up the speed at which artists can transition from the emerging level to blue-chip prices and global fame,” he added.

The country’s art market was estimated to be worth around 532.9 billion won in the first half of 2022, according to a July report from the state-run Korea Arts Administration Service – more than the whole of 2021.

FRESH APPROACH

Thaddaeus Ropac, who opened his Seoul gallery last year, said South Korea offered a balanced demographic of collectors.

“You have very established collectors who are not too young anymore and who have incredible experience and who collect art for 30 years or 40 years and you see the results, which I think is quite astonishing in its quality,” Ropac told AFP.

“But then you also feel a very fresh new approach to art” from younger collectors, he added.

The Austrian gallerist, who began working with South Korean artists nearly two decades ago, said the country’s art scene – artists, curators, collectors – had been “built for generations”.

The arrival of Frieze Seoul would certainly open new doors for South Korea’s art market, he said, but it was “also a result of what Seoul has become”.

Schneider added: “Historically, anytime a grade-A international fair sets up shop in a new city, it simultaneously confirms that the art-market infrastructure there is sustainable.”

But he dismissed framing Seoul’s rise in terms of Hong Kong’s potential fall.

“I think it’s misguided to act as if Asia ?? a massive continent composed of numerous countries with unique cultural histories and tremendous wealth ?? can’t support two legitimate art-market hubs,” he said.