From Yoshitomo Nara’s Child Holding a Knife to Kim Tschang-yeul’s ‘Water Drops’ ... K Auction Inc.’s November Auction

[Financial News] A child holding a knife stands on a sheet of paper 46 cm tall. ‘Slash with a Knife,’ a 1998 work by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, will go under the hammer with bids starting at 1.7 billion won. Kim Tschang-yeul’s 150-ho ‘Water Drops,’ measuring more than 2 meters across, will also be offered.
According to K Auction Inc. on the 13th, its November auction will be held at 4 p.m. on the 25th at its headquarters in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul. A total of 118 works will be offered, including paintings from Kim Whanki’s New York period, Lee Ufan’s ‘Correspondence,’ and antiques. The total value is estimated at about 12.6 billion won.■Nara’s Drawings and Paintings by Kim Tschang-yeul and Kim WhankiIn the image on the cover of the auction catalog, the child tilts their head and glances sideways. The eyes are green. Nara used acrylic paint and colored pencils on paper. The title, written in red at the bottom of the image, is the same as a song by the Japanese punk-rock band The Star Club. K Auction Inc. has not disclosed an estimate for the work.
Nara’s 2016 work ‘Nothing About It’ sold for 15 billion won at Seoul Auction last March, setting a record at the time for the highest price at a domestic art auction. David Zwirner Gallery in New York, U.S., is exhibiting nearly 100 of Nara’s works, including early drawings and new pieces, through December 12.
The auction also features Nara’s 2004 colored-pencil drawing ‘Untitled (Long Long Way to Home).’ It is estimated at 100 million to 250 million won.
Kim Tschang-yeul’s 1976 work ‘Water Drops BAA N°5’ is estimated at 1.3 billion to 1.8 billion won. Drops of different sizes are scattered across the 227.3-cm-wide linen. Light and shadow painted on each drop make it look as if water has gathered on the rough fabric. Four Water Drops paintings, including works from 1986, 2002 and 2018, can be seen together.
Kim Whanki’s 1969 work ‘Untitled,’ painted in New York, is estimated at 760 million to 1.5 billion won. Red and ocher shapes sit where blue vertical and horizontal lines intersect. A row of small colored dots runs above them. The composition reflects the period when he was moving toward his all-over dot paintings, which fill the entire canvas with dots.
■Lee Ufan’s ‘Correspondence,’ Experimental Art and AntiquesLee Ufan, who turns 90 this year, has seven works in the auction. Both of his 1996 works titled ‘Correspondence’ are 100-ho. One, with dark gray brushstrokes in the upper left and lower right against a white background, is estimated at 520 million to 800 million won. Watercolors on paper, terracotta and painted ceramic works will also be shown.
Lee Kun-Yong, a leading figure in Korean experimental art, has brought bodily movement into painting. His ‘Bodyscape 76-3-2021’ is being offered with an estimate of 95 million to 140 million won. Lee Kang So, who presented ‘Extinction’ in 1973 by setting up a tavern in an exhibition space, has a 2006 work, ‘From an Island-06011,’ estimated at 80 million to 140 million won.
Jeong Kang-ja’s 1990 work ‘Untitled’ is estimated at 3 million to 16 million won. She took part in the 1968 happening ‘Transparent Balloons and a Nude.’ Experimental works by the three artists were also featured in ‘Korean Experimental Art of the 1960s and 1970s’ at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, U.S., in 2024.
In the antiques section, ‘Yonghodo,’ depicting a dragon in the clouds facing a spotted beast beneath a pine tree, is estimated at 250 million to 400 million won. Jeong Seon (Gyeomjae)’s ‘Landscape with Figures’ is estimated at 55 million to 100 million won. A letter written by Yi Hwang in 1569 is estimated at 5 million to 10 million won.
Works on offer can be viewed for free at the K Auction Inc. exhibition space from the 14th to the 25th, daily from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., without a reservation. Bids can be placed in person, in writing, by phone or online via live bidding after registering as a member. Visitors can also attend in person on auction day without registering as a member.
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