South Korea is the epicentre of the Asian art calendar this week, with Frieze Seoul and the Korea International Art Fair converging alongside the opening of the Busan and Gwangju biennales.Yet behind the art-week frenzy – with some 300 galleries courting buyers at the two art fairs – questions remain about the depth and prospects of the Korean art market.The Korea Art Authentication and Appraisal Institute’s midyear report notes that local auction sales nearly doubled to 111 billion won (US$81 million) in the first half of 2026, but warns that the surge is top-heavy, driven by blue‑chip names such as Yoshitomo Nara, whose Nothing About It fetched a record 15 billion won in March.Are Korean collectors fixated on big, international names, or is a more diverse base emerging? We speak to several collectors – an educator, an architect, a collecting couple and an office worker with 200-plus works – on what fuels their passion, the artists they are watching and the shows they consider unmissable this season.The community educatorLee So-young is an art collector, historian and educator. Photo: Lee So-youngLee So-young is arguably one of the most recognisable figures in South Korea’s art community. She appears on some of the country’s most popular television programmes, reviews international exhibitions on her popular YouTube channel, writes books about art, and runs art education programmes for children and adults.
Art and Seoul: Korean collectors on their passion and artists to watch
As Seoul Art Week kicks off, we talk to a variety of collectors on their journey and suggestions on who and what to see over the coming days.
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