Today I went to the Korean International Art Fair at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in the Gangnam Gu District of Seoul. A few days ago I was exploring Seoul on foot and I saw KIAF posters everywhere, I took down a poster (there were multitudes) and I hung it in my room as a reminder. Today my friend Kate (who is visiting) and I decided to grab a bus and make our way to the COEX Mall area to check out the KAIF and to also explore the largest underground mall in Asia. In its 6th year the 08 festival features 218 galleries, 116 local to Korea and 102 foreign. We spent 6 hours there today and I am sure we missed some things.

As I walked through the Fair I tried to catch the overall vibe by snapping pictures of art and scenarios that really caught my attention. View my Flickr Gallery of KIAF. KIAF is a project organized by the Galleries Association of Korea. They are definitely trying to revitalize the art market here by creating a venue by which the art world comes here as well as the general public. Each year KIAF appoints a different country to be its honored guest, this year it is Switzerland. Prominent Swiss galleries are represented fostering a relationship between galleries here and abroad, (in hopes I am sure of driving the Asian Art Market.)

Video Installation at KIAF

 As a first time visitor to KIAF I was excited by the variety and the quantity of art. As a westerner I was of course more excited to see the Asian work, especially of contemporary artists. I did see some Louise Bourgeouise, Georg Baselitz, Robert Mangold, Andy Warhol, and some other heavy hitters. But more exciting for me was to see work I have never seen and to see so much diverse work in one place. Two highlights for me today were the work of Showichi Kaneda and also :phunk Studio .

Humans Own Evo Series

:phunk studio collective

Among the 6000 works on display some of my favorites were animated Japanese screens, a drawing of child-like figure double fisting McDonald’s bags, tiny miniature portrait sculptures, a head sculpted out of wool, a wooden block sculpture of a women menstruating, paintings of donuts, highly realistic sculpted trees, a fantastic-weird installation all in white featuring a polar bear, a flying sword, and sequin covered objects and Buddha holographs. If you want to see the images of these click here.

KIAF 2008 is Great. If you happen to be in Seoul, there are two days left to check it out. Here is one more fav for the end of my post.

sculpture on view at KIAF