Seoul Auction Sells 24.3 Billion KRW Worth at June Auction... "Largest Since 2008"

Lee Ufan's 'From Point (2 works)' (1975)

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Donghyun] Seoul Auction recorded a total hammer price of 24.3 billion KRW in its last art auction of the first half of this year, marking the highest amount since the 2008 financial crisis. Lee Ufan's work started at 1.5 billion KRW and was sold for 2.2 billion KRW, setting a new personal record for the artist.

Seoul Auction announced on the 23rd that the 161st art auction held the previous day at the Gangnam Center recorded a total hammer price of approximately 24.3 billion KRW and a hammer rate of 87%. The total hammer price of 24.3 billion KRW is the highest amount in domestic auctions since the 2008 financial crisis.

Lee Ufan, a representative artist of the domestic art market, broke his highest price record. The exhibited work, 'From Point (2 works)' (1975), which features dots created from the physical act of dotting that spiral and appear as an organic flow, started at 1.5 billion KRW and was sold for 2.2 billion KRW. Lee Ufan's previous highest-priced work was 'East Winds' (1984), which was sold for 2.07 billion KRW at the 30th Hong Kong Sale in 2019.

Not only Lee Ufan but also Korean modern art showed good results. Kim Whanki's so-called rainbow-colored dot painting '27-XI-71 #211' (1971), created in 1971, recorded the highest hammer price of 3.05 billion KRW in this auction.

Lee Jung-seop's 'Family' (1945)

Lee Jungseop's 'Family' (1945), painted in his later years, was sold for 1.55 billion KRW, and Yoo Youngkuk's 'Soul' (1965), which features dynamic expressions of Korean natural abstraction and geometric surface divisions from the 1960s, was sold for 1.27 billion KRW.

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Among overseas works, Yayoi Kusama's 'Silver Nets (BTRUX)' (2014) started at 1.8 billion KRW and, after fierce competition, found a new owner at 2.9 billion KRW. The sold work is characterized by the artist's signature net pattern painted with silver pigment on a dark blue background, creating a rhythmic feel throughout the canvas.

The traditional art market also entered a full-fledged boom. 'Dongjakjin,' a true-view landscape painting by Gyeomjae Jeong Seon exhibited in this auction, started at 150 million KRW and was sold for 440 million KRW, nearly three times the starting price. The sold work is the highest-priced single-panel true-view painting by Gyeomjae Jeong Seon. The previous highest price for a single-panel true-view painting was 'Baegakbuam,' sold for 340 million KRW at the 158th Seoul Auction art auction held last December.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.