Artnews

Korean artworks a hit in Christie's

▲'Marilyn Monroe VS Mao Zedon' by artist Kim Dong-yoo

Korean artworks were showered with overwhelming attention at a major international art fair at Hong Kong Christie's held Sunday, with works from artists Kim Dong-yoo, Paik Nam-june and Choi So-young being sold for hundreds of millions of won.

Kim Dong-yoo's oil painting "Marilyn Monroe VS Mao Zedong" was bid for 323 million won ($310,000), recording the highest price among Korean art pieces displayed at the auction. The bid price was 25 times higher than the estimated price.

Kim, 41, had already received a lot of attention at Christie's auction last November for his unique mixture of techniques. "Marilyn Monroe VS Mao Zedong" is a work of pop art with Monroe's face filled with small pixie-like images of Mao.

Video installation "Enlightenment78 RPMs (1990)" by Korea's late master Paik was sold for 267 million won ($250,000), recording the second highest price among Korean artworks, and emerging artist Choi So-young's "Gwangangyo" was sold for 195 million won ($180,000). This is the first time Korean artworks have been bid at prices exceeding 100 million won at a Hong Kong Christie's auction.

A total of 32 artworks by 18 Korean artists including Yoo Seung-ho, Ahn Sung-ha, Kim Duk-yong, Ham Jin, Choi Young-gul, and Debbie Han were exhibited in the auction and 29 of them were sold at good prices.

Christie's is a world-famous auction house based in London, founded by James Christie in 1766. Since then, it has been expanding globally with salesrooms located in many countries including the United States, France, Italy, Switzerland, China, Hong Kong and Thailand. The Hong Kong salesroom opens twice a year in May and November.

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