Artwork by well-known local and international artists including Lee U-fan, Park Soo-keun, Kim Whan-ki, Chun Kyung-ja, Kim Chong-hak, Oh Chi-gyun and Yayoi Kusama will be auctioned online starting Friday.

Herald artday, a subsidiary of Herald Media group, is holding its first online auction from Oct. 21 to 26. Considering that online auctions so far have offered limited items by little-known or up-and-coming artists or only small works by a few established ones, “Herald artday First Online Auction” aims to invigorate the local art industry with its high-quality works by acclaimed artists.

Over 100 works go up for auction. Those who are interested can check out the works at the preview exhibition during the auction period at Lotte Gallery on the 14th floor of Lotte Department Store in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, before making their bids. 

The quality of the work on auction is impressive. A 1976 piece titled “From Line” by Lee U-fan, an internationally acclaimed artist who recently finished his solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim in New York, will be showcased to the public for the first time. The artworks by other participating artists are significant and have rarely been seen in online auctions.

The auction will be suitable for first-timers as well as art aficionados as there is a wide range of prices.

“When collecting an artwork, both its artistic and investment values should be considered important. What we paid attention to while preparing this auction was to offer high quality artworks of various prices so that it should be able to satisfy both values,” said So Don-young, an official at artday.

So added that credibility and fairness were also values the company kept in mind so that it could help put an end to the problems prevalent in art dealing. It aims to take root as a new reliable player in the art market that can lead the growth and popularization of art here.

The auction is open to everyone. To participate, visit and sign in at www.artday.co.kr. The auction will start to close at 5 p.m. on Oct. 26, when 10 pieces will be sold every 10 minutes.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)