[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Maat_Frieze_Seoul_2026_Image_by_WeCap_Studio_Courtesy_of_Frieze.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0This story originally appeared in\u00a0<\/em>On Balance<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em>the ARTnews\u00a0newsletter about the art market and beyond.\u00a0<\/em>Sign up here<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to receive it every Wednesday.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThough some parts of the art world are still on summer vacation, Asia has already dived into the fall season with an action-packed week in South Korea. Frieze Seoul today kicked off its fifth iteration in partnership with homegrown flagship fair Kiaf Seoul at the COEX convention center in Gangnam district, along with the openings of biennials in Gwangju and Busan. The synergy has drawn patrons and art world professionals from around the region and North America, and the fairs saw a bustling VIP day with crowded aisles, though sales moved at a measured pace amid a market correction.<\/p>\n \n\tThe slow first-day sales, however, have not dampened the trade\u2019s confidence in the Asian cultural powerhouse. Gone are the partygoers, spectators, and speculators. The emergence of next-generation art connoisseurs and a vibrant local art ecosystem have convinced some industry veterans to take on a more holistic, long-term approach to the market as they bet on the future.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe more established you are, the more you are within a grid, and the more you build up an audience,\u201d said dealer Thaddaeus Ropac, who has spent the past five years cultivating a solid presence in Seoul. His eponymous gallery has a space in the South Korean capital managed by a homegrown team. The gallery just opened a solo exhibition of Georg Baselitz, the first major gallery show of the German artist since his death in April, coinciding with a major retrospective at the privately owned Sehwa Museum of Art.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cTo me, the Korean audiences are among the most sophisticated within Asia and there\u2019s no place like Seoul where you can have so many private museums,\u201d Ropac said in an interview at Frieze Seoul. \u201cThe audience is still growing, even though some of them don\u2019t buy as much as they used to two, three years ago. People here demand culture.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile the current market still runs on a validation economy where value is primarily conferred top-down, the growing number of new participants and voices entering Seoul right now may shake up this validation structure, noted Gladys Lin, an art adviser who works between Taipei and New York.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m seeing more younger audiences showing up at exhibitions, fairs, in a way that wasn\u2019t visible a few years ago,\u201d Lin observed. This engagement has yet to convert to actual buying, she added. \u201cBut that\u2019s exactly the layer I\u2019m watching.\u201d<\/p>\n A Cautious First Day<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tExhibitors at Frieze told ARTnews<\/em> that sales moved slowly on the first day, though some noted a slight improvement from the previous edition. Some Korean dealers said that pieces have been put on hold, but it will take another day or two to close the sales as buyers are cautious. Overall price points fall between the five- to six-figure range, with occasional four-digit sums.<\/p>\n \n\tFair director Patrick Lee said that for the past year, he has been \u201cpushing\u201d local audiences to be \u201cmore inquisitive\u201d and initiate dialog and make connections with galleries. \u201cIt\u2019s a process,\u201d he said. He was pleased to see a diverse crowd, including collectors and curators from across East and Southeast Asia hailing from Japan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, as well as museum groups from North America.<\/p>\n \n\tFirst-day sales were led by Adrian Ghenie\u2019s new oil on canvas Figure with Funerary Stele<\/em> (2026), sold for \u20ac1.1 million ($1.28 million) by Thaddaeus Ropac, which also sold a 2024 Antony Gormley cast-iron sculpture for \u00a3750,000 ($1 million). Korea\u2019s Gallery Hyundai sold multiple works by Kim Tschang-yeul, the late South Korean artist famous for his paintings of water drops, including one for $1.1 million.<\/p>\n \n\tBeyond the headline sales, the first-day results reflected the breadth of demand spanning Korean modernists, international blue-chip names, and younger contemporary artists. Hyundai also sold works by Seung-taek Lee, priced between $170,000 and $700,000. Kukje Gallery sold Ha Chong-Hyun\u2019s mixed-media work for $253,000\u2013$303,600 and a painting by Park Seo-bo\u2014whose museum just recently opened in Seoul\u2014for $250,000\u2013$300,000, alongside works by Kibong Rhee and Suki Seokyeong Kang. White Cube also sold two major works by Park for $300,000 and $190,000.<\/p>\n \n\tInternational galleries reported similarly broad sales, with several placing works with Asian institutions. David Zwirner sold works by established international names, including a new work by Lucas Arruda to a museum in Asia. Gagosian placed works by Damien Hirst with multiple collections, including one belonging to an Asian museum. Spr\u00fcth Magers sold a 2025 hand embroidery work by Cyprien Gaillard for $200,000 to an institutional collection in Asia, while Hauser & Wirth sold works by major international names including Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, and Jeffrey Gibson ranging from $185,000 to $600,000.<\/p>\n \n\tDavid Kordansky sold nine paintings from its first solo presentation of American artist Chase Hall, each priced between $25,000 and $125,000. Hall, who was present at the fair, was notably popular among Korean fairgoers, with some of them seen lining up to take photos with him and his work. Mike Homer, partner and senior director of the gallery, told ARTnews<\/em> that Hall has been well-received among Asian collectors, particularly the Koreans. \u201cChase\u2019s work is a very personal representation of his background, upbringing, and inspirations. The audience here has been really open to his perspective and style,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \n\tJohyun Gallery sold seven bronze sculptures by Lee Bae for $40,000\u2013$140,000 each, alongside a charcoal work for \u00a375,000 ($101,000), while BB&M sold all three Lee Bul works on its booth for $195,000, $275,000, and $290,000. Leeahn Gallery sold works by Tomokazu Matsuyama for $290,000 and Lee Kang-So for \u20a9320 million ($235,000).<\/p>\n \n\tLamb, from London, in the Focus sector for young galleries, sold ceramic works for $6,500\u2013$15,000 by the Brazilian artist Ayla Tavares to American collectors during the early hours of the fair. Born in 1990, Tavares is featured in the Brazilian Pavilion at this year\u2019s Gwangju Biennale, which opens this weekend.<\/p>\n International or Regional<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tDiscussions about the high percentage of galleries from the region were notable. Among the 125 galleries from 30 countries featured at Frieze Seoul, more than 70 percent of them operate spaces in Asia-Pacific, a significant increase from 2022\u2019s 50 percent. This year\u2019s exhibitor line-up saw a 40 percent turnover rate\u2014around 50 of them are new this year. Kiaf, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, features 175 galleries from 18 countries.<\/p>\n \n\tWhile fair director Lee has said that it was important for Frieze Seoul to have an identity distinctively different from its other fairs in the West, some locally based collectors questioned if the mix has made the fair \u201cless international.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPeople always focus on the trophy works and talk about how some galleries are not coming back. But some galleries have brought a lot of hidden gems from overseas that have never been shown here before,\u201d said Jay Park, a 39-year-old collector who works in the medical industry. \u201cThey are not necessarily expensive works, but you can find them if you study harder.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMarta, from Los Angeles, sold multiple works by the New York\u2013based Minjae Kim and his Korea-based mother Myoung-Ae Lee at their first-time participation at Frieze Seoul in the popular new sector Material Practice, curated by independent curator Hyeyoung Cho. Heidi Korsavong, partner and director of the gallery, noted that with the growing visibility of Asian American artists, including those of Korean descent, exhibiting in Seoul helped to bridge the connections between Koreans and their diaspora.<\/p>\n \n\tSome galleries are exploring opportunities outside the fairground. After exhibiting at Frieze Seoul for three years since its 2022 inception, Paula Cooper Gallery has opted for a different approach to Seoul this year. Instead of securing a fair booth, the New York gallery decided to stage a three-week pop-up group show titled \u201cWoods Lands Meadows\u201d at Frieze House Seoul, the fair operator\u2019s South Korean equivalent to No.9 Cork Street. The opening night on Tuesday was jam-packed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe wanted to find other ways of connecting with the public because fairs are very short. It\u2019s very hard to develop connections during a fair,\u201d the gallery\u2019s partner Anthony Allen told ARTnews<\/em>. Following a successful project with Seoul\u2019s Arumjigi Foundation last year, the gallery decided to expand its presentation so that it could \u201cdevelop a connection with the collectors and the museums here,\u201d he added. Allen noted that the gallery has been cultivating museum exhibition opportunities in Busan and other locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSunghoon Lee, the president of the Galleries Association of Korea, which organizes Kiaf, noted that while the overall market was down by nearly 25 percent to 615 billion won ($433 million) in 2025 from its peak in 2022, he has confidence in the next generation of collectors as they are \u201cgenuine art enthusiasts who prefer smaller, affordable pieces over large investments,\u201d he said via a translator. \u201cThe sales volume may be smaller, but the loyalty among collectors is stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFrieze Seoul runs through September 5 and Kiaf Seoul continues through September 6.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/market\/frieze-seoul-kiaf-2026-sales-report-1234796717\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Maat_Frieze_Seoul_2026_Image_by_WeCap_Studio_Courtesy_of_Frieze.jpg?w=1024″] Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0This story originally appeared in\u00a0On Balance,\u00a0the ARTnews\u00a0newsletter about the art market and beyond.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive it every Wednesday. Though some parts of the art world are still on summer vacation, Asia has already dived into the fall season with an action-packed week in South Korea. Frieze Seoul today kicked off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2125599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}