SPECIAL REPORT | CONTEMPORARY ART
Korean art emerges from China's shadow
By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Published: October 10, 2008

SINGAPORE:
Korean contemporary art has long been overshadowed by the enthusiasm of collectors for all things Chinese. But with prices for Chinese contemporary art now out of many people's reach and still rising, collectors are looking further afield and Korean artists are right in their field of vision.
Christie's Hong Kong included eight Korean works in its Asian contemporary art sale in October 2004. But it was not until the spring of 2007 that Korean artists really started taking off, said Eric Chang, international director at Christie's and head of the auctioneer's Asian contemporary art and Chinese 20th-century art department.

Results at Christie's Hong Kong inaugural evening sales of Asian Contemporary Art, in May, illustrated the twin themes of rising interest and relative affordability. World records were set for 10 Korean artists; yet the top price for a Korean work, 4.6 million Hong Kong dollars, or $587,000, paid for "Library II" by Hong Kyung Tack, remained only a fraction of the 75.4 million dollars paid that night for the top Chinese lot, the monumental "Mask Series 1996, No. 6" by Zeng Fanzhi.

As demand grows, supply is expanding to match. This year, Larasati Auctioneers dedicated a small section of its April auction in Singapore to Korea, offering works by 19 artists, while Sotheby's, which had only a few Korean works in its recent Hong Kong sales is planning a big sale there in April.
"The reason why we're doing it now is, we can tell the market is booming," said Evelyn Lin, head of the contemporary Asian art department at Sotheby's China and Southeast Asia. "Right now if you look at the Asian contemporary art market, Korean and Japanese artists are the ones collectors think are undervalued and more affordable. If you're looking at the quality of some of the pieces, as well as their concept, values are quite attractive, especially for sculptures."
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Reflecting this increased interest from collectors, Korean art galleries have been extremely active internationally over the last 18 months, expanding their operations abroad through new outposts and making their presence felt at international art fairs. Three galleries, Arario, PKM and PYO, have opened in Beijing and in the last year some have also set up in the United States - Arario and Gana Art finding space in the Chelsea gallery district of New York and PYO opting for Los Angeles.
In September alone, Arario Gallery was showing in four international fairs. "This is all new for us, but this year we've decided to show in as many art fairs as possible," Juhl Le, associate director of Arario New York, said. "We're not just showing Korean artists but there seems to be a lot of demand for them, so we're increasingly doing so."

At ARTSingapore 2008, a five-day Asian contemporary art fair that ends Oct. 13, a total of 23 Korean galleries are showing - the biggest contingent since the fair began in 2000. The fair, now one of the largest in Southeast Asia, featuring a total of 110 galleries from 16 countries, is also showcasing an exhibition of work by Nam June Paik, widely regarded as the father of video art, who died in 2006. The exhibition, borrowed from Kim Soo Keong, a director of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and well-known collector, features several important pieces, including "Blue Buddha" and "TV Repair Man," which is on public display for the first time.

The ARTSingapore 2008 director, Shen Po, said that Korean galleries started coming to the fair since day one, but there were only one or two of them in the early years. "I think 2006 was the turning point when we had seven or eight galleries," she said.
"There are many good artists in Korea," Kim Chang Il, founder of Arario and an important collector, said. "They haven't been given a chance to show much in the western world; but they're very well trained and talented, so we just need to give them more opportunities."
Natsuko Hidaka, a private client manager at Sotheby's, says contemporary Korean art has remained under the radar partly because it is highly diversified. She says this makes it harder for collectors to pinpoint what it stands for.
"The works are so different from one another that they do not make a movement," Hidaka said. "Korean artists do everything, from hyper realism to pop art, micro art, video, etc. Diversity is a good thing, but in this case, I believe it has made it difficult for people to identify with contemporary Korean art. Artists do well individually but not collectively."

Lee Hwaik, president of Lee Hwaik Gallery, also says he believes Korean art has suffered from what he termed a lack of underlying identity.
"For instance, Chinese contemporary art has the Cultural Revolution as its foundation and Japan is famous for Manga and Anime, which is an important element of the major Japanese art movement led by Murakami and Nara," Lee said, referring to Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. "I don't think Korean artists have figured that out yet."
Still, some artists are starting to making waves at auction. They include Kim Duck Yong, who paints fleeting moments of daily life on old wood boards, leaving the grain of the wood to show through, a technique that gives his works a certain classicism reminiscent of the faded Danchung colored decorations found on traditional wooden buildings.
Others are Choi So Young, who captures panoramic cityscapes in collages that she creates in recycled denim; and Kim Dong Yoo, who composes images from a multitude of "pixel units," each itself a miniature painting.
Korean artists have been among the region's leaders in pioneering the use of new technologies, said Paul Yip, manager of the Hong Kong branch of the Korean gallery CAIS.
"The great Fluxus artist Paik Nam June had an unparalleled influence on the Korean art scene," Yip said, referring to the neo-Dadaist avant-garde international Fluxus movement that emerged in the 1960s, inspired by the artist Marcel Duchamp and the composer John Cage. "His video installations changed the new artist's concept of art and established a strong tradition of using new technology as an art medium."
This tradition has been supported recently by a proliferation of Korean biennial exhibitions. There are currently no fewer than three running: the Gwangju Biennale, until Nov. 9; the Busan Biennale , until Nov. 15; and the Seoul International Media Art Biennale, until Nov. 5.
Korean artists are also increasingly being invited to show abroad. From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, L'Espace Louis Vuitton in Paris is showing "Metamorphoses: Korean Trajectories," presenting works by 10 artists, including the established installation artist Do Ho Suh and up-and-coming younger artists like Ham Jin and Hyungkoo Lee.

In Brussels, the Palais des Beaux-Arts has just opened "Made in Korea," a wide-ranging festival of Korean culture. Among the contemporary work on display are a video installation by Paik and ceramic bowls by Young Jae Lee.
"Nowadays, you see Korean arts everywhere, at auction sales, art fairs and biennales," Yip said. "The works are salable and have unique artistic value."