The Galleries Art Fair, South Korea’s oldest art fair, kicked off Wednesday in its largest scale ever at Coex in southern Seoul, joined by 156 homegrown galleries.

The 41st edition of the fair that began with a VIP preview Wednesday runs through Sunday in Coex halls B and D with the largest number of Korean galleries participating since its establishment in 1979.

The Galleries Art Fair and KIAF SEOUL, founded in 2002, are run by the 160-member Galleries Association of Korea. The Galleries Art Fair, which is open to Korean galleries only, is touted by organizers as particularly suitable for small- and mid-sized galleries because all booths are of the same size. However, all major Korean galleries take part in the fair.

This year's Galleries Art Fair will present some 10,000 works by artists from home and abroad. In the “Zoom-in” section sponsored by Porsche Korea, 10 emerging artists will be introduced and three selected artists from the section will be awarded prizes based on the result of an on-site poll by visitors.