`Tax 0 won` New investment place where people buy in line

“Because of real estate regulations and the stagnant stock market, people are lining up to buy paintings. I realize that art without acquisition and ownership taxes is emerging as a new investment destination.”

On the 17th, an art dealer who met at the March auction site at K Auction in Sinsa-dong, Seoul told the current status of the art investment craze, saying, “These days, phone calls from high-paid workers in the financial and IT (information and communication) industries are flooding.”

As he said, thanks to the addition of young investors to the existing large hand collectors, K Auction recorded a surprise performance of 74% on the day and a total bid of 13.5 billion won. The auctioneer’s total successful bid was 16.5 billion won in April 2017, the highest this year, and the highest record in major domestic auctions this year.

The highest priced work on this day was’Infinity Nets (ZZOOX)’, a 2006 work by Yayoi Kusama, a popular Japanese artist who sold for 1.31 billion won. Korean abstract master Lee Ufan found a new owner at 1.3 billion won in 1987’s “With the Wind” (181.8×227.3cm) without competition. Lee U-Hwan’s 1978 work, “From the Line” (72.7×60.6 cm), sold for 550 million won, and the 1976 work, “From Point” (72.7×60.6 cm), sold for 420 million won, proving that he was a major artist.

After his death in January, he also sold all nine paintings of water droplets artist Kim Chang-yeol, whose work prices soared, solidifying his position as a new blue chip artist. The highest price among them was the 1979 work’Water Drop LSH70′ (90.9×72.7cm), which was auctioned at 360 million won. The 1977 work’Water Drop’ was only the size of No. 1 (22.7×15.8cm) painted with a single drop, but after fierce competition, it was sold for 82 million won, which is 7 times the starting price of 12 million won.

Park Rae-hyun’s painting, “The Owl,” recently illuminated by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, has found a new owner at 34 million won, which is 7 times the starting price of 5 million won.

Apple writer Yoon Byung-rak also gained popularity. The 2018 work’Autumn Fragrance’ (100×101cm) won a bid for 42 million won, which is three times the starting price of 15 million won. The moon jar, a pottery artist Kwon Dae-seop, which was purchased by BTS leader RM (real name Nam-joon Kim), was also sold for 50 million won, which is twice the starting price of 25 million won.

The most intensely contested antique work on this day was the eighth-panel folding screen of the 19th-20th century,’Binpung Chilwoldo’. It was a successful bid for 125 million won, more than four times the starting price of 30 million won, with an unknown artist painted on silk.

In addition to Kusama, works by famous foreign artists, which are evaluated as safe assets that do not drop in price, continued to be strong. American pop art master Andy Warhol’s 1985 film (100×80cm), a silkscreen depicting the youth of Queen Elizabeth II, was sold at 220 million won, which is three times the starting price of 80 million won. German master Georg Baselitz’s 1998 masterpiece’Laktionov die Neue Wohnung’ (200×162 cm) also found a new owner for 900 million won.

On this day, Kim Whan-ki’s 1960’s work’Bird’ and 1956’s’Invention’ were sold at 600 million won and 800 million won, respectively, but were inspected. Only the 1971 work’Untitled’ (27×21.5cm) drawn with colored pencils on paper, Kim Whanki, won a bid for 52 million won, more than twice the starting price of 25 million won. The works of Jiang Xiaoqang and Wee Minjun, the four great emperors of China, were also inspected.

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