Seoul Auction and K Auction Offer Notable Artworks in Last Sales of 2023

Works by Kim Whan-ki from his New York period, as well as works by monochromatic master Park Seo-bo, who recently passed away, will find a new owner during Seoul Auction’s last sale of 2023. Seoul Auction will hold an event on December 19, 2023 at Gangnam Center in Seoul with a total of 78 artworks and an estimated value of about USD 5.17 million. A total of eight pieces from Park Seo-bo’s Écriture series will be exhibited during the event. These include pencil compositions, which was the beginning of the Écriture series, a black straight line Écriture using Korean paper from the late 1990s, and a color Écriture with bright colors from the 2000s.

Andy Warhol’s Dollar Sign (estimate: $463,400 – $926,700) and Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (estimate: $532,900 – $772,300) will go up for auction as well. Notably, the sale’s most notable artwork is calligraphy written by Ahn ChoongKeun, a prominent figure of the Korean independence movement, in prison ahead of execution in 1910. The piece has been in Japan until recently and is the first work to be released. A Japanese owner has submitted it to this auction, and if a domestic bidder wins the bid, it will be returned to Korea. The work represents the life of Ahn ChoongKeun, who devoted himself to the independence movement, and his stamp is clearly printed. The work is estimated at $386,200 to $772,300.For its last sale of 2023 on December 20, K Auction will offer 101 pieces worth a total of about $5.33 million at its headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul. Kim Whan-ki’s paintings from his New York era will be on display. A cross-structure work titled 4-VI-69 #65 (estimate: $580,000 – $1,500,000) and an oil on newspaper, Untitled (estimate: $46,000 – $120,000), will be exhibited.

“The composition of the color surface spreading from each corner by dividing the screen is impressive, and the formative exploration of the point-line-plane is taking place,” K Auction said of Kim Whan-ki’s New York era cross-structure work. “It shows that he is taking a step closer to the world of abstraction through the expression of unique colors in the New York era and the free composition that is not bound by objects and motifs.”

Damien Hirst’s Untitled (estimate: $450,000 – $690,000), Yayoi Kusama’s Aching Chandelier (estimate: $350,000 – $620,000), and Ayako Rokkaku’s Untitled (estimate: $210,000 – $310,000) will also be looking for new owners. Seven of Park Seo-bo’s artworks will also be displayed, including a pencil drawing titled Écriture No. 213-85 (estimate: $640,000 – $1,200,000), a later work titled Écriture No. 010731 (estimate: $290,000 – $460,000), and a red-colored Écriture No. 101104 (estimate: $390,000 – $770,000).Lee Ufan’s From Line No. 77013 (estimate: $330,000 – $420,000), which started a large-scale retrospective at the Banhof Museum in Hamburg, Berlin, Germany; Ha Jong-hyun’s Conjunction 18-05 (estimate: $150,000 – $230,000); and Kim Tschangyeul’s Recurrence SA07012 (estimate: $69,000 – $150,000) will also go be available in K Auction’s last sale of 2023.