SEOUL, April 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The booming art market in South Korea saw a surge in auction sales as of March.
The Korea Arts Management Service reported that the total bidding price at 71 auctions led by 10 local auction houses during the first quarter of this year reached 78.5 billion won (US$64.4 million).
While the aggregate is 7.4 percent less than the fourth quarter of last year (84.8 billion won), it was 48.8 percent higher than last year’s first quarter (52.7 billion won).
The artwork with the highest bid in the first quarter was renowned Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Statue of Venus Obliterated by Infinity Nets,” with a price of 4.4 billion won.
Among Korean artists, “From Point” by painter Lee Ufan and “Atelier” by abstract master Kim Whan-ki were both sold for 1.7 billion won.
A total 1,850 artists have submitted their artworks to the auctions, 257 of whom were new to the market without any submitted work in the last three years.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
