How Will the Market React to Korean Experimental Art? Works by Kun Yong Lee, Kim Whan-ki at K Auction

While the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) is holding an exhibition titled “Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea 1960s-1970s,” Korean experimental art will also be shown through an upcoming auction. It marks the return and re-examination of experimental art, filling a gap in Korean contemporary art. Experimental art, which resisted the injustice of history through art, also actively explored the subversion of form and content and the meaning of art.

Korean art company K Auction will showcase the works of experimental art pioneers such as Ku-lim Kim, Kang-So Lee, and Kun Yong Lee through an auction held at its headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on June 28, 2023. Kun Yong Lee’s The Method of Drawing, which created a new paradigm out of form in the process of repeating simple movements of the body, will be auctioned with an estimate of USD 77,500 to $116,000. This work has the nickname “Heart Painting.” Kang-So Lee’s Froman Island-02021, which asks the question, “Is there a real thing?” will be auctioned with an estimate of $46,400 to $93,000, and Ku-lim Kim’s Yinyang 8-S.130 will be auctioned with an estimate of $11,600 to $23,200.

In addition, masterpieces by blue-chip monochromatic artists can be seen in the auction. Lee Ufan’s Dialogue (estimate:  $1,044,100 – $1,546,800) and Correspondence (estimate: $556,900 – $734,800), as well as Youngkuk Yoo’s Work (estimate:  $773,100 – $1,546,200) and Seo Bo Park’s Ecriture No. 88912 (estimate: $479,400 – $927,800) will be auctioned off. “The margin in Lee Ufan’s Dialogue is more than just an empty space, ” K Auction said. “The conversation between canvas, viewer, and space continues to have a closer relationship, and furthermore, it captures infinite time and space on the canvas.”

In addition, three works by Kim Whan-ki, a master of Korean abstract art, will be presented, and a frottage work, Untitled 78-P.11 (estimate: $29,400 – $54,100), by first-generation monochromatic painter Sanghwa Chung will also be presented. Six works by Bae Lee, who recently attracted attention with a 6.5-meter charcoal sculpture built in Channel Garden Square at Rockefeller Center in New York, will also be exhibited.

In the overseas art sector, the catalog includes Joel Mesler’s large work titled Sunrise Sunset (estimate:  $309,000 – $541,000), Ayako Rokkaku’s Untitled (estimate: $61,900 – $116,000), and Patrick Hughes’s Empty Fair (estimate: $38,700 – $77,400). “Joel Mesler has been drawing attention from the global art market for his active work since his first exhibition in Los Angeles in 2000,” K Auction said about the available piece. “His work, which features blue plants, short phrases and snakes surrounding the work, allows us to explore the relationship between text and image.”  This event will also showcase works by Chiharu Shiota, Tania Marmolejo, and Egami Etsu.

K Auction’s June event will feature a total of 72 works and is estimated to bring in around $6.2 million. Those who want to see the offered items can view them at the K-Auction exhibition hall until June 28, when the auction will be held.