Seoul shakes up the Asian art market

Ten years after the explosion of K-pop, the diabolical refrain Gangnam Style, of the singer Psy, no longer trotted in the heads. But Gangnam — Seoul’s upscale neighborhood, not the popular nightclub and campsite clip — is upending the global cultural order once again. In this gleaming enclave comparable to Ginza in Tokyo – minus the architectural quality – all the fashion brands now pulsate to the rhythm of art. The Yves Saint Laurent house welcomes the Korean star Lee Bae, Dior gives pride of place to Lee Bul. Known for his pioneering flair, the French merchant Emmanuel Perrotin has just opened his second space in the Korean capital, just opposite the Hermès building.

“We are living a moment in Korea”, welcomes Patrick Lee, the director of the brand new Frieze Seoul. For the kickoff of this Korean version of the London fair, on September 2 in the COEX shopping center, a dense, chic and masked crowd, from all over Asia, was there. To the great relief of the hundred or so exhibitors, two-thirds Western, happy to welcome seasoned collectors, familiar with the works sometimes signed by very young artists, mostly foreign, not disconcerted by the sometimes high prices – a Warhol from 1962 at 38 million dollars at Acquavella.

A few minutes after the opening, gallery owner Thaddaeus Ropac already had a bright eye: he had just confirmed the sale of a sculpture by Briton Antony Gormley at the Podo Museum, on Jeju Island, dear to the writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio. “There are more private museums in Korea than anywhere else in the world! », ignites the Parisian merchant. So Koo House, opened in Gyeonggi-do, one hour from Seoul. Dark blue hair and a mischievous smile, its founder Jungsoon Koo rushed as soon as the doors opened to the stand of the New York gallery Canada. “I have come to collect my painting by Katherine Bernhardt”confides the septuagenarian, quite proud to have been able to buy a painting of the last American darling, whose prices are skyrocketing.

A new generation of collectors

Three years ago, before the pandemic, the Land of the Morning Calm was not on the art world’s radar. Its powerful merchants swore only by China and its flashy millionaires, or by Hong Kong, its liberal showcase where the Art Basel fair was anchored in 2013. “Seoul is not cosmopolitan like Singapore or Bangkok”, admits Sung-won Kim, deputy director of the splendid Leeum Museum, founded by the Samsung family. But the virus has turned the table. The American gallery Pace, among the very first to settle in Beijing, has closed its 2000 square meter space in the 798 Art District. “The neighborhood has become a ghost town, there is no more energy”, laments his boss Marc Glimcher. From now on, it is in Seoul that he has chosen to expand, equipping his space opened in 2017 with a magnificent extension, and a tea room.

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