The high-end art fair has had global brand extensions for years, but the latest, Frieze Seoul, is more ambitious.
Freeze — We held our first trade fair in London, then spread to New York and Los Angeles — At the Seoul trade fair, we venture to a whole new continent from Saturday to Monday Coex Features over 110 galleries.
“Freese has had its sights set on Asia for some time,” said Patrick Lee, director of the fair.
It can be seen as frieze’s answer art basel hong kong — Not to be outdone when it comes to expansion, Art Basel expands its reach to Paris, with a new trade fair debuting in October. (Originating in Basel, Switzerland in 1970, the trade fair expanded to Miami Beach in 2002 and Hong Kong in 2013.)
Lee, a former executive director of Gallery Hyundai and a partner of One Gallery and Jay Gallery in Seoul, said collectors would be impressed with the local pieces.
“When people come here, they are amazed at the level of development of the arts infrastructure, including museums, galleries and non-profit spaces,” he said. “The city really shines.” About 19 galleries based in Seoul or with branches in Seoul will participate in Freeze.
The fair will be smaller than some prestige fairs with more than 200 galleries, but that’s a plus, Lee said.
“It allows real exploration,” he said. “You can walk through, take your time, and meet people.”
About 10 galleries from Japan will participate, including Tokyo’s Anomaly and Maho Kubota.
Many of the art world’s biggest gallery names are on hand, including New York. Gladstone Gallery.
Gladstone’s booth will feature works from a variety of artists, including Rirkrit Tiravanija’s mixed media work Untitled 2022 (tomorrow is the question, rénmín rìbào, march 24, 2022);. Mr. Tiravanija is also a solo artist with his work exhibited in local galleries.
pace galleryWith branches in nine cities around the world, the company is expanding its space in Seoul to match Freeze, adding an outdoor sculpture courtyard and tea house. Pace’s booth at the fair will feature Agnes Martin’s late painting Untitled #2 (1992), as well as works by Virginia Jaramillo, Adam Pendleton and Lynda Benglis.
Perotinealready has one gallery in Seoul (and six other cities), but will also add a second space (Perrotin Dosan Park in the Gangnam district), also debuting at Frieze. Perrotin’s booth at the fair will be the solo presentation of New York artist Tavares Strachan.
For collectors, the Coex Exhibition Center offers a two-on-one experience. It is a veteran Korean fair. Kiaf Held from Saturday to Tuesday in the same building, it overlaps with the Frieze and has over 160 galleries.
“We’re not trying to be fair to each other,” Lee said. “Both have their own identities.”
The two trade fairs cooperate extensively, including program collaborations and two types of admission tickets.
“It’s unusual, but it’s smart,” said co-founder Rachel Lehman. Lehman Maupinopened a Seoul branch in 2017 and is headquartered in New York. The gallery’s Freeze booth will feature MacArthur’s large painting of his binion, as well as works by several other artists.
Kukje Gallery, Galleria Continua, Axel Vervoordt, gallery hyundaione of the oldest and most prestigious names in Seoul.
“There are many sophisticated private collectors here,” said Hyundai director Yong Kwon. “People can check out both fairs and make their choice.”
Kwon said the gallery has to do most of the trade fair preparations in one day. “It’s a challenge for us, but it’s worth it,” she said.
Hyundai specializes in Korean modern and contemporary art, and its booth is in the Frieze Masters section of pre-2000 works with 18 galleries.
The booth features a distinctive material: large stones used by artists Park Hyung Gi, Kwak In Shik and Lee Soon Taek. Works include Mr. Park’s “Untitled (1988/2001)” made of video monitor and stone.
“It’s a common material among them, but their approaches and methodologies are very different,” said Kwon.
Since it was difficult to transport the heavy piece to such a remote location, Kwon thought it would be more appropriate as a spectacle in his hometown.
“We’re trying to show some crazy stuff that you can’t bring to London or New York,” she said. “These rocks are really heavy.”
Some dealers use Freeze Souls as a chance to expand their horizons. This is New York’s first Asia Fair. Bortorami Gallery.
“I considered going to Hong Kong a few years ago to do a trade fair, but then the pandemic hit,” said gallery founder Stefania Bortolami. It’s perfect.’ Korea has good clients and is culturally very vibrant.”
Her presentation will take place in a booth shared by the Andrew Krebs Gallery in New York and will feature works by Caitlin Keough, Ella Kruglinskaya, Richard Aldrich and Daniel Buren. Some paintings in the hands of Sonia Gechtoff include “Ghost of Goya” (1988).
Bortorami Gallery is renting space at the Songwon Art Center to host another show, The Cumulative Effect, in collaboration with Kreps and Tina Kim Gallery, which runs concurrently with Frieze. Fair to do.
“You shouldn’t do too much for the environment,” she said of the carbon footprint involved in sending people and works of art around the world. So you have to put in enough effort.”
Bortrami added that “my staff would kill me” if they tried to hold all the fairs, including two Art Basel and another Frieze this fall.
The fair will have a special section called Focus Asia, featuring 10 solo exhibitions by Asian galleries that have opened since 2010. The special section was curated by Christopher Y. Lou, Chief His Artistic Director of the Horizon Art Foundation in Los Angeles, and Hye Jung-chan, his curator at The Independent, who works at Doosan Gallery in Seoul.
Focus Asia spans the Dastan Gallery in Tehran, Yeo Workshop in Singapore and Jhaveri Contemporary in Mumbai.
“We weren’t trying to create a thematic link, we were trying to show the scope,” Lew said. “It’s a big continent. But it’s an exciting way to show a wide range of practices.”
One common denominator emerged. It’s about artists working with technology and using it creatively.
An example is the work of a Singapore-based artist Fierre Dharma, provided by Yeo Workshop. Dharma shows textiles that mimic the pixelated look of his digitized work.
“It reminds me of the screens we experienced during the pandemic,” Liu said.
Sokyo Gallery Kimiyo Mishima from Kyoto, Tokyo and Lisbon presents Japanese ceramic artist Kimiyo Mishima. Known for his trompe l’oeil, which looks like stacks of newspapers and looks something other than ceramics. In the case of Sokyo Booth, her work seems to be junk.
“Creating artwork that depicts fragile but trash highlights the danger and instability of the material,” Liu said. “But it also has to do with the environment and climate change that we are dealing with right now.”
A former curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Liu has visited Seoul several times, including recently serving as a judge for the Korea Art Awards.
“It’s really exciting for Seoul,” Liu said of Freeze’s new outpost. “It is a sign of the city and its development.”