Korea’s oldest art fair features 3,000 works

The nation’s oldest art fair is back in Seoul and kicks off Friday at COEX in Samseong-dong, central Seoul.

Launched in 1979 by the Galleries Association of Korea, Korea Galleries Art Fair marks its 29th year this year.

Though the fair originally started in Seoul, it was held in Busan for the last three years to boost the surrounding region’s art market. From this year, the fair will be back in Seoul.

The four-day art fair will feature 3,000 artworks from 66 galleries. Only Korean galleries which belong to the hosting association may participate, unlike Korea International Art Fair, the largest of its kind in Korea, which welcomes the participation of foreign galleries as well as local ones.

Participating artists range from local artists such as Jung Yeon-doo, Kang Ik-joong, Koo Bohn-chang, Kim Tschang-yeul, Lee Ufan and Chun Kyung-ja to foreign artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Marc Quinn, Robert Indiana and Julian Opie.

“The number of participating galleries decreased compared to last year but we enlarged the overall volume of the fair by adding various events. We hope to place the fair as the nation’s biggest where art aficionados can see the trend of the art market at a glance and buy artworks at reasonable prices,” said Pyo Mi-sun, head of the Galleries Association of Korea.

Tickets are 8,000 won for students and 10,000 won for adults. For more information, call (02) 733-3706~8 or visit www.seoulartfair.net.

(claire@heraldcorp.com)