Latin American art is the highlight of this year’s Korea International Art Fair featuring a large number of Latin American artists and art galleries.

The Latin American art exhibition also celebrates the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Latin American countries.

The fair, being held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, from Sept. 13-17, features the works of 84 Latin American artists including some big names such as Fernando Botero, Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesus Rafael Soto as well as emerging young artists. 

“Latin American art is not well-known in Korea, but actually Latin American artists are very active in the international art scene,” said Ahn Jin-ok, a Korean expert on Latin arts and CEO of Gallery Banditrazos in Seoul.

“Botero is one of the top 10 artists in terms of selling prices in the international auction market and Cruz-Diez did the exterior design of Prada stores,” said Ahn.

The fair invited 14 galleries from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela and a U.S. gallery specializing in Latin American art.

Viewers can see diverse aspects of Latin American art in the form of installations, paintings, photographs and sculptures including Venezuelan op-kinetic artist Cruz-Diez’s representative work “Chromo-Interference Environment” on display at a special booth.

In its 11th year, the KIAF, organized by Galleries Association of Korea and COEX, features a total of 120 Korean galleries and 61 foreign galleries including Die Gallery from Germany and Imago Art Gallery London.

Lectures on Latin American art and Korean contemporary art are open to visitors on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

VIP lectures on art collaboration, art investment and trends are planned as well.

Guided tours in Korean and English are provided to visitors throughout the fair. Guided tours in English start at 3:30 p.m. during the fair.

For more information, visit www.kiaf.org or call (02) 766-3702.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)