Korean art market saw disastrous third quarter: report

The Korean art market saw a difficult third quarter, with auction sales falling a 27.2 percent on-year to 23.8 billion won ($17 million).

According to a report from the Korea Art Authentication and Appraisal Institute, the market is expected to remain subdued in the long term, as it typically responds to economic trends as a lagging indicator.

“The Korean art market saw the worst third quarter and what the market actually experiences seems more pessimistic,” the market report released on Friday noted.

The report stressed that recession in the Korean art market compares to global art markets in Hong Kong and western countries that are showing resilience or recovery.

“Korea’s prominent artists such as Kim Whan-ki, Yun Hyong-keun, Yoo Young-kuk, Lee Ufan, Lee Jung-seop and Park Soo-keun should be the foothold for the Korean art market to stay resilient, recurring some other established artists to support demand, but this move is not clearly seen,” the report pointed out.

The report was based on the sales from Korean auctioneers in the third quarter including the three major firms -- Seoul Auction, K Auction and My Art Auction, which saw 28 percent, 12 percent and 52 percent decrease in sales, respectively, from the same period last year.

Japanese artist Kusama Yayoi was one leading artists in the third quarter market whose work fetched at 2.9 billion won, becoming the most expensive work sold in the auction market, which was followed by Korean artist Lee Bae whose work was sold at 700 million won during the period.