Growing Art Market... Sold-Out Streak on Home Shopping Channels

On the afternoon of the 13th, artist Hansang Yoon (right) and a professional curator introduced artworks on Lotte Home Shopping's mobile TV channel, L.Live.

원본보기 아이콘

On the afternoon of the 13th, artist Hansang Yoon is introducing art pieces on Lotte Home Shopping's mobile TV channel, L.Live.

원본보기 아이콘

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As more people view artworks as a means of financial investment, the home shopping industry is also entering the art sales market. Artists and professional curators appear on broadcasts to explain the works in detail, receiving positive responses from "Cullini" (Collection + children).

According to Lotte Home Shopping on the 18th, on the afternoon of the 13th, the mobile TV channel ELIVE exclusively sold limited edition works by pop artist Han Sang-yoon, famous for his Happy Pig paintings. The broadcast was live-streamed on-site from Space Jane & Claire, a cultural complex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where Han Sang-yoon personally introduced his works. As a result, the original painting sold out within five minutes of the broadcast start, and six original works including Nice Shot and Happy Journey were completely sold out. On the afternoon of the 3rd of next month, original works by artist Kim Ji-hee will be showcased. Lotte Home Shopping established a dedicated culture team last year and is actively promoting businesses such as art sales and cultural content planning. In February, they opened the Bangguseok Culture Hall, a cultural and arts specialty section within their mobile app, and plan to introduce cultural content products including introductions to emerging artists and exhibitions, web magazine publications, and the release of art-related non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

K Shopping conducted sales of exhibition works from the domestic leading art entertainment company Ray Village’s “Horyeongjeon - Awakening the Tiger” on mobile live commerce on the 24th of last month. About ten actual artworks were displayed, and a professional curator was invited to introduce the artworks. To provide more vivid and immersive visuals of the artworks, a media wall was used. On the same day, Hyundai Home Shopping held a broadcast selling original works from Print Bakery, a brand dedicated to popularizing art. They showcased 20 works by 10 famous domestic artists including Song Hyung-no, Kim Ji-hee, and Ahn Yun-mo. Within three minutes of the broadcast start, over 20 works were sold out, achieving more than twice the expected sales.

The home shopping industry’s active involvement in art sales is due to rapidly increasing demand. The 11th Busan International Gallery Art Fair, which concluded on the 10th, saw collectors flocking to the event, causing an open-run phenomenon. The number of visitors to the art fair was about 100,000, double that of last year, and the total sales amount during the exhibition period reached 25 billion KRW, three times higher than the previous year. A home shopping industry official said, “Recently, art consumption trends such as art tech, auctions, and collecting are changing,” adding, “We plan to actively reflect changes in the cultural and arts market and strengthen our competitiveness in cultural content going forward.”

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.