ART FAIR REPORT: FRIEZE SEOUL & KIAF 2023

Installation, Thaddeus Ropac, Frieze Seoul

Amid some concerns on the health of the South Korean art market, with art sales having dropped back to pre-covid level, gallerists, dealers and collectors alike were pinning their hopes on the return of Frieze Seoul and its counterpoint fair, KIAF.

Whilst various pundits have suggested the Korean market is “thin” due to its “volatility”, others suggest the number of buyers has in fact increased, with the ‘popularity’ of all things art having harnessed a broader demographic.

For more than three decades now, South Korea has maintained an important position within the broader Asian market, particularly with respect to the secondary market; as sophisticated, well-educated and focused collectors these members of affluent families hold significant purchasing power. 

With this as a backdrop, it is only reasonable then that a new generation of young collectors is emerging, one that is enthusiastically participating in the art market and happily embracing the concept of a collection. Notably, collectors under the age of 50 equate for 80% of contemporary art sales.

This strong and multi-demographic collector base has no doubt encouraged leading Western galleries to set up shop over the years, with the likes of Perrotin, Pace, Thaddeaus Ropac, and Lehmann Maupin taking up residence in the arts precincts on offer.  Jay Jopling’s White Cube is the most recent addition, with its timely opening of a group exhibition “The Embodied Spirit” offering some respite during Seoul Art Week.

Of course, South Korea has created a favourable business environment for European galleries, with an ever-increasing availability of English-speaking Korean art professionals, relatively low rent on gallery space, and ‘free trade zones’ providing seamless logistics.

Installation, Jonas Wood @ Gagosian Gallery, Frieze Seoul

Frieze Seoul

At just after 2pm at the VIP opening of Frieze Seoul, an enthusiastic ambience permeated the stands, with fresh-faced gallery staff at the ready; and they needed to be!  With foot traffic increasing by the minute, this was a buoyant and clearly successful start to Frieze’s 2nd iteration in Seoul.

Clearly a number of works had been pre-sold but equally, there was some high value negotiations taking place on the first day; a Kusama bronze pumpkin was being considered by competing parties at one stand (and this was not the only Kusama on display, a selection of Infinity Dot paintings of varying dimensions and quality also populated the fair), six figure sales were being transacted at many booths, and the first Georg Baselitz on display at Thaddeus Ropac sold for €1,200,000 ($1.3 million), and was replaced a day or so later, with an equally stunning Baselitz.

Installation, Yayoi Kusama @ David Zwirner, Frieze Seoul

Collector and institutional Interest in George Condo’s Picasso-inspired paintings has been strong across Asia, and in 2021, Condo was the subject of an extensive survey show at the Long Museum in Shanghai; in 2020, one of his paintings sold for $6.58 million at a Christie’s Hong Kong auction, setting an auction record for him.  This market traction no doubt proved salient during Frieze Seoul, with several galleries exhibiting and indeed selling, works by Condo.   

Hauser &Wirth had a choice “Picasso-inspired” painting occupying its own dedicated wall; Spruth Magers had a strong 2022 work on paper, Almine Rech included an earlier 2008/2009 small oil on linen, on their stand; and David Zwirner’s large, calligraphic mixed media work on linen attracted interest.

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Fair favourite (at both Freize and KIAF), Park Seo Bo’s sublime paintings and works on paper punctuated the booths, and drew the crowds, especially during the ‘happening’ at White Cube’s stand where ebullient director Jay Jopling observed the frantic adulation surrounding the now frail 91 year artist.  Along with leading internationalist Seoul gallery, Kukje, both sold works by the father of the 'Dansaekhwa' movement for around the $500k mark. 

The fervour bodes well for White Cube’s forthcoming, major solo exhibition for Park Seo Bo, scheduled for autumn 2024 at the gallery’s upcoming New York space on Madison Avenue (which is set to open in October this year). Jopling is also planning for a local project with a South Korean institution.

Installation view of White Cube’s booth at Frieze Seoul, 2023.
Photo by Lets Studio. Courtesy of Lets Studio and Frieze.

With the inclusion of Frieze Masters into the same trade hall space, there was some fairly serious blue-chip work on display. As the days progressed and foot traffic multiplied, extra security contract staff and carefully placed stanchions were starting to be installed; the latter was definitely required for the Instagram worthy sculpture by Jeff Koons at European Masters gallery, Robilant & Voena.

Julian Opie @ Cristea Roberts Gallery, KIAF Seoul

KIAF

With two decades of editions behind it, this year’s KIAF comprising 210 exhibiting galleries, and more than 130 were from Korea should have been better.  Enthusiastic foot traffic aside, the purported “range of art on view is broad in scope, scale, and price point” noted by one commentator really translated into a miscellany of quality, and unfortunately, compromised the other well curated booths from an unfortunately, much smaller percentage of exhibitors.

Indeed, one European gallery with an exemplary inventory on display – think Chagall, Picasso and Fontana - was clearly dissatisfied, voicing his grievance to a patient Fair staff member. 

The frequent public service announcements requesting visitors not to take photos unless granted permission and not touch the artworks, did not help matters, invading conversations and infantilising visitors. 

However apart from these disappointments, there were some established Seoul-based galleries with a thoughtful array of works by some key Korean artists.

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Chun Kwangyoung’s recognisable “Aggregate” series perhaps more akin to freestanding sculptures and wall hangings and composed of hundreds of tiny polystyrene triangles, which the artist then wraps in coloured Korean mulberry paper, was being shown by several galleries, as too was proponent of the Korean Art Informel movement of the 1950s and 60, Kim Tschang-Yeul, whose oil and graphite on linen paintings hover somewhere between abstraction and hyper-realism.

The burnt umber and raw canvas of one of the leading figures of the Korean Dansaekhwa art movement Yun Hyong Keun, was also a Fair favourite across both Frieze and Seoul, with quite a number of works on display at galleries’ respective booths.

Many of the exhibiting galleries at KIAF reported good productive engagement with visitors, with many reporting good sales.  One exhibitor noted his observance of  the “different accents and languages [which] can be heard across the fair concourse, solidifying the fact that this fair—and Seoul as a whole—is now a bona fide hub of international art. “

To view more artworks from the fairs visit https://www.instagram.com/catherineasquithart/

©Catherine Asquith 2023 

Establishing, Developing & Maintaining a Corporate Art Collection : A 4-part series of journal articles which provides an insight into the nature of a corporate art collection.

Corporate Collection 101: Start with A Collection Strategy
Part 1

Deutsche Bank London’s reception features art by Anish Kapoor and Damien Hirst. Photograph: Deutsche Bank

In 1959, the youngest child of John D Rockefeller Jnr, David Rockefeller, then president of the Chase Manhattan Bank, established what was ostensibly the first corporate art collection.  Known at the time as the “Art at Work” program, David Rockefeller believed that art elevated the experience of working at and doing business with the Bank; his plan was to embrace contemporary art which aligned with the firm’s business principles and priorities: diversity, innovation, technology, sustainability, creativity, and excellence.  These collection parameters remain in place to this day.

Rockefeller’s vision has paved the way for the incarnation of corporate collections across the globe, with many utilising the fundamentals as a starting point.  In seeking to define a collection strategy for a new collection, reference can be made to several established corporate art collections and the business models which have been utilised in maintaining and developing these same collections.  The following brief overview illustrates how a collection can be used as a means of branding ; how incorporating thematic parameters can be used to guide the acquisitions, and how a collection’s infrastructure informs the promotion of that collection.

The accounting firm Deloitte is a high-profile presence in the Australian corporate sector.  Its collection has risen to prominence as a result of a craftily devised activation within its Sydney headquarters in 2004: in lieu of simply acquiring works for its boardrooms and offices, it was decided to implement a rotating exhibition program which is installed throughout the main public floors of its offices (which welcomes on average 6000 visitors per week).  This type of strategy has allowed for considerable public engagement and sets the tone for a dynamic and active corporate art collection.

The Deutsche Bank Collection, formally known as the “Deutsche Bank Global Art Program”, has been described as the largest corporate art holding in the world.  It not only collects artworks on a regular basis, it also has an online magazine, and frequently engages in dialogue with a vast and extensive global audience on contemporary art.  Such engagement clearly enhances the Bank’s global brand.  Considering its Sydney headquarters (a Norman Foster designed glass and aluminium office tower), a move towards more installation-based artwork was conceived, given the lack of wall space.  Notably 95% of the Bank’s collection (worldwide) is accessible to the public.

Corporate collections often commence with the notion of aligning its brand with art.  Macquarie Group started its collection in 1986, with this premise as its focus.  One of the most respected corporate art collections, having earned a reputation as one of Australia’s most cohesive, considered and exciting compilations of contemporary Australian talent, the bank’s sustained curatorial thematic parameters of “emerging Australian artists influenced by the Australian landscape” have clearly helped to maintain its status and prestige.  The Bank has a selection committee comprising Macquarie employees together with an external advisor, and along with regular acquisitions from artists and galleries, the Bank also embraces commissioning site-specific artworks for their headquarters in Sydney.  To maintain interest in the collection as much as to appease their shareholders, art tours are included in staff and client functions.

The corporate art collection business model adopted by Perth-based company Wesfarmers is perhaps the more traditional in its activities.  The collection, which started in 1977, has been focused on demonstrating the value of art in the workplace to its staff (and shareholders) as well as encouraging “an understanding of the importance to society of supporting creative thinking and artistic vision”.  The extensive collection of 900 artworks and objects engages in an active loan program and regularly commissions site specific temporary works for its window foyer at Wesfarmers House.  Several exhibitions curated from the collection have gone on tours, with the most recent exhibition showing at the National Art School in Sydney in February 2016.

In a similar manner to Wesfarmers, the art collection of blue-chip law firm Allens commenced acquiring artworks in the mid-1970s.  The collection’s raison d’etre was to support artists by way of purchasing works and commission site-specific temporary projects for their offices.  Interestingly, the firm’s preference has been to buy young and follow the career of their collection artists, which in art parlance is known as ‘collecting in-depth’. Moving beyond the traditional parameters of a corporate art collection, Allens also offers a month-long internship program with Sydney University post-graduate arts students, to work alongside the collection’s curators.

BHP Billiton’s art collection is one of the few corporate art collections within Australia which includes an international component.  Its primary curatorial premise has been to focus on “the issue of identity”, however, with changes in societal discourse and the political socio-economic changes on the social landscape, the collection has sought to redefine its collecting parameters, to now include a multi-cultural focus.  This diversity of artist and therefore artwork has boded well for the company’s global expansion over the years. 

Deutsche Bank

The salient points highlighted in the above collections are the variations amongst the collections, which of course, marks their point of difference:

• the rotating exhibitions program implemented by Deloitte

• the on-line magazine of Deutsche Bank

• the vigilant maintenance of Macquarie Group’s curatorial parameters, i.e. the landscape

• the inclusion of touring exhibitions of works from the collection of Wesfarmers, which are likely the result of an active loans strategy;

• the arts internship and alignment with Sydney University inherent to the collection of Allens; and

• the intentional diversity of artists and artworks of BHP Billiton’s collection.

These aspects all have merit and can be considered as part of devising a collection’s strategy.

In our next journal post we will discuss ‘setting the parameters’ for a collection.

#ARTNews: Australian Auctions - Smith & Singer, “Important Australian & International Art” 24th June 2020, Sydney

Lot 6, John Brack (1920-1999), Laughing Child, (detail), 1958, oil on canvas, signed and dated 'John Brack 58' upper right, 45.8 x 40.8 cm frame: original, John Brack, Melbourne

Smith & Singer’s return to the podium, albeit post-covid19 lifting of restrictions, presented an exemplary inventory of anticipated Australian iconic artists: Boyd, Brack, Blackman, Nolan, and Perceval.   A total of $6,620,940 was realised for this quality auction, with a sale rate by value of 111% and by quantity, 87%, which is impressive given the current conditions impacting our market.

The featured work for the auction, and indeed a highlight of the evening sale was John Brack’s “Laughing Child” (Lot 6), a work ‘very’ fresh to market selling to a telephone bidder for $915K against an estimate of $400 to $600K. 

Other notable sales which raced past their high estimates were Arthur Boyd’s 1976 softened palette rendition of a favoured subject, “Evening, Shoalhaven River” selling for $70,760 (incl. BP); Sidney Nolan’s oil on paper, “Kelly Head” enjoyed some spirited bidding, finally selling for $30,500 (incl. BP) against an estimate of $10 to $15K; and a wonderful ink & collage on paper by Brett Whiteley “The Owl” (1983) realised an impressive $73,200 (incl. BP) against an estimate of $30 to $49K.

Bidding for Arthur Streeton’s intimate “Bridge in New Norfolk, Tasmania” of 1938 wasn’t curtailed by its speckled provenance, with inclusions in previous auctions (Leonard Joel in 1972 and Sotheby’s in 2003) bouncing to almost double its high estimate of $150K with a winning bid of $292,800 (incl. BP).

A good, solid biographical provenance for Ethel Carrick’s 1903 oil on canvas “The Market, Caudebec” no doubt inspired confident bidding well above the high estimate of $180K to achieve $274,500 (incl. BP).

Notwithstanding the title of the sale as denoting International works, there were only 4 lots in this category, which nevertheless included a good, tabletop sculpture by Antony Gormley, Lot 57, and with a market ready estimate of $180 to $220K, still failed to sell.  Possibly Australian secondary market buyers are still seeking ‘reliable’ Australian works.

Charles Blackman’s 1961 oil on composition board “Double Image III” was clearly a challenging proposition on the night, failing to entice bidders, but with swift aplomb by S & S circulating a “Private Sale” newsletter a few days later, the work sold for an undisclosed sum. 

Although for the most part, contemporary practising artists do not ‘warm’ to their works going to auction, the Alexander McQueen of Lot 53, “Strong Tower” (2009) reached almost parity with the artist’s retail values, selling for $42,700 (incl. BP).

Was it a case of preference for nude bathing women over pasturing cows? Lot 23, “The Bathers” the later of the two McCubbins included in the sale, did sell, although it was knocked down for below its low estimate, for $360K on the hammer.  McCubbin’s 1886 “Winter at Nunawading” was for me, the more appealing, but clearly not for the room on the night.