K-Auction's June Auction
Park Sugeun's 'Nosang' Starts at 700 Million KRW
A Total of 90 Works Worth 8.3 Billion KRW
A Large Selection of Avant-Garde Artists' Works Featured
The June auction, which will be held at 4 p.m. on June 25 at the K-Auction headquarters in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, will feature a total of 90 works, including Park Sugeun's 'Nosang', with an estimated total value of approximately 8.3 billion KRW.
Park Sugeun, known as the "national artist," is celebrated for capturing the essence of modern Korean figurative art through simplified forms of daily life, nature, and figures, rendered with a rugged texture. The auction piece 'Nosang' is one of his representative series from the 1960s, depicting two women sitting side by side on the street and a baby held in one woman's arms, all expressed in simple lines and forms. This scene, captured without embellishment and with realism, reveals Park Sugeun's unique powers of observation and warm empathy. The starting bid is set at 700 million KRW, or upon separate inquiry. In addition, works by other major artists who led Korean figurative art?such as Chun Kyungja, Chang Ucchin, Do Sangbong, Kim Inseung, and Park Goseok?are also included in the auction list.
This auction also features a large number of works by artists from the Korean Avant-Garde Association (AG Group), who played a pivotal role in the spirit of experimentation in the history of contemporary Korean art. These artists include Ha Jonghyun, Lee Kunyong, Seo Seungwon, Lee Kangso, Shim Moonseup, and Choi Myoungyoung.
The 'Korean Avant-Garde Association' (AG) was a pioneering art group active from 1969 to 1975, marking the peak of the late 1960s art movement and serving as a precursor to artistic practices of the 1970s. AG is recognized as Korea’s first organized art movement in which both artists and critics participated, pursuing joint goals through publishing magazines and holding exhibitions.
Ha Jonghyun experimented with the materiality of the pictorial surface and traces of labor through nontraditional techniques such as the back-pressure method. Lee Kunyong is a pioneer of performance art, exploring the relationship between the body, space, and the viewer. Seo Seungwon established an original style of painting that combines Korean sensibility with geometric abstraction under the concept of 'simultaneity.' Lee Kangso visualized fleeting moments of existence and a drifting world through free brushwork and improvisational compositions. Shim Moonseup explored the cyclicality of nature and the presence of materials in a sculptural manner, presenting new directions in contemporary sculpture. Choi Myoungyoung pushed the essence of painting and its formative resonance to the limit through repetition of flatness and monochromatic surfaces.
A K-Auction representative stated, "The consistent appearance of works by artists from the Korean Avant-Garde Association?who left a short but intense trajectory?in auctions demonstrates that the reevaluation of experimental art is gaining momentum in the Korean contemporary art market. The steady trading of these artists' works also indicates that collectors’ discernment is maturing."
In the overseas art section, the following works will be featured: Yayoi Kusama's 'Hat' (450 million to 800 million KRW), Jeff Koons' 'Encased-Five Rows' (510 million to 2 billion KRW), Takashi Murakami's 'An Homage to Yves Klein' (400 million to 700 million KRW), Damien Hirst's 'Melamine' (180 million to 300 million KRW), Ugo Rondinone's 'Small Blue White Red Mountain' (80 million to 130 million KRW), Andy Warhol's 'Campbell's Soup II' (55 million to 100 million KRW), Angeles Agrela's 'Cornelia' (15 million to 30 million KRW), and Michel Delacroix's 'Musiciens de rue (Street musicians)' (25 million to 60 million KRW).
A preview of the auction lots will be held at the K-Auction exhibition hall until June 25, allowing visitors to view the works in person before the auction. During the preview period, the exhibition hall will be open every day, and viewing is free without reservation. Those wishing to participate in the auction can do so by registering as a K-Auction member and bidding in writing, on-site, by phone, or via online live bidding. On the day of the auction, June 25, anyone can attend the auction as a spectator, regardless of membership status.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
