[YeitSuda] The Role of Galleries

Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Andy Warhol once said, "To become famous, you need an agent." Behind his rise as a master of his time was the insight of Leo Castelli. He was a legendary New York gallerist who discovered Warhol's talent early and introduced him to the world. Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jackson Pollock also gained significant attention after meeting him.

Ambroise Vollard, who introduced Picasso to the public, had equally remarkable insight. With outstanding planning skills, he discovered artists like Renoir and Matisse. His method of introduction went beyond exhibitions. He collected print works to create portfolios and also published books such as biographies and autobiographies.

The role of a gallerist in discovering artists and introducing them to the public closely resembles that of an entertainment agency nurturing singers. Trainees discovered through auditions or street casting receive support for a certain period to hone their skills. The profits generated after debut are distributed in a certain ratio, covering production and promotional costs incurred. This system is almost identical to the support system galleries provide to artists.

Alongside the rising status of K-pop, global interest in K-art is also intense. The Frieze, one of the world's top three art fairs, chose Korea?not Hong Kong or Tokyo?as its first Asian host city. Last year, the total value of art transactions, including domestic galleries and auction houses, was approximately 922.3 billion KRW, about three times the previous year's 329.1 billion KRW. As art tech, which views artworks as investment assets, becomes popular and 2030 buyers known as the MZ generation enter the market, various products such as blockchain-based non-fungible token (NFT) investments and fractional ownership investments have been launched.

Arnold Hauser defined that with the emergence of the art market, artworks are no longer evaluated based on aesthetic quality or the artistic rank of the original creator. Instead, he argued they are assessed according to their market value, which fluctuates with economic conditions. The art market has traditionally been centered around galleries, auctions, and art fairs. While this system remains solid, the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic caused offline exhibitions to slow, leading to new developments. The system where collectors met artists through gallery exhibitions has weakened. Galleries quickly prepared online exhibitions but could not fully transfer the authority and vitality of physical spaces. Young buyers began to question whether the space to encounter artworks must necessarily be a gallery.

A gallerist who listed Nam June Paik's installation work "Literature is not Book" on the platform Danggeun Market for 900 million KRW focused on the most widely used service as a platform where artists and collectors can meet directly. They wondered what role galleries would play if sales occurred there. Arnold Hauser argued that the value of artworks is mainly determined by their rarity, which interacts with trends. Attention is focused on how the fun, tastes, and intuition of the MZ generation, who lead trends, will shape the art market's distribution channels.