The Gwangju International Art Fair 2021 opened Thursday featuring artists based in the city, including a metaverse exhibition, to help them promote artworks virtually and in person amid growing public interest in art.

With 70 galleries from home and abroad taking part, the city’s major art fair will run until Sunday at the Kimdaejung Convention Center, showcasing works from 535 artists.

With growing attention to the art market, the annual art fair is presenting special booths to introduce 134 artists based in Gwangju to give them opportunities to showcase their works to the public. The six booths were set up with different themes and some local artists will be at the scene to interact with visitors.

The art fair accompanies a special exhibition on metaverse named, “Beyond White Cube,” which can be accessed through the art fair’s website where artworks by 10 artists can be seen in the virtual space. The metaverse exhibition was created in collaboration with MBUS421, a metaverse platform company featuring art.

“We are experiencing many changes exploring the virtual environment thanks to the pandemic,” Yun Ik, director of the art fair told The Korea Herald. “The metaverse exhibition aims explore the possibilities to host art fairs in the virtual space because we will ultimately get to become more familiar with the virtual space.”

Among the works at the art fair are the masterpieces by renowned artists such as David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Takashi Murakami and Philip Colbert, Kim Whan-ki, Park Seo-bo, Kim Tschang-yeul, Lee Ufan and Lee Kun-yong. The art fair is held by the Gwangju city government.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)