Market dispatch·Busan
KRW 6.1 Billion Low Estimate for Seoul Auction's First Busan Sale in Four Years
Seoul Auction will hold its first Busan sale in four years on October 23 at the Grand Chosun Busan, offering 107 lots with a combined low estimate of about KRW 6.1 billion. The sale spans modern and contemporary art, luxury goods and old masters, with a sea-and-coastline theme spotlighting Busan-born painter Kim Jong-shik, a Korean auction debut for Nam June Paik's Internet Dweller, and late works by Yayoi Kusama.
Seoul Auction announced on October 8 that it will stage a Busan sale on October 23, its first in the city in four years. The single-session auction, held at the Grand Chosun Busan at 4 p.m., brings together 107 lots across three sections: 69 modern and contemporary works, 13 luxury lots and 25 old master pieces, with a combined low estimate of roughly KRW 6.1 billion. The sale is curated around the sea and coastline, gathering works that evoke Busan by artists rooted in the region alongside major Korean modern and contemporary names. Its centerpiece is Kim Jong-shik (1918-1988), a Busan-born first-generation Western-style painter who taught at Dong-A University; two of his seascapes, Busan Harbor Sunset and the 1971 Gwangalli, appear at a major auction for the first time, showing the bold color and forceful brushwork he brought to his lifelong subject of Busan's mountains, seas and harbor. The catalogue cover is devoted to Lee Dae-won's 1979 Tree, a 1970s observation of changing seasons rendered in his distinctive dotted oil technique. Nam June Paik's 1994 robot sculpture Internet Dweller: sw. six. Sa, built from vintage televisions, cameras, antennas and vacuum tubes, makes its Korean auction debut, anticipating the digital network era the media artist foresaw. Abstraction is represented by major works from Chung Sang-hwa alongside popular large canvases by Lee Bae and Woo Kuk-won. Among international lots, Kusama's 1981 Pumpkin and the 1997 Infinity Nets work No.39 appear following her death in August, and Banksy's 2019 print Banksquiat (Grey) is introduced to the Korean auction market. The old master section highlights paintings with traceable seal provenance, including Kang Sehwang's work bearing the seals of the collector Yun Hee-jung. The luxury section offers three Rolex watches and an Hermes Birkin 35 in top-grade alligator skin, with several items seized by the national tax agency drawing extra attention. Previews run at Seoul Auction's Gangnam Center from October 8 to 17 before moving to Busan from October 20.
