Most art fairs are held in large, brightly lit convention halls, where art collectors look for new pieces to buy and art lovers content themselves with admiring the works.
Over the weekend, a new art fair concept was introduced in Seoul with the opening of the 2nd Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair 09 (AHAF). This was the first time for the art fair to be held here, after Tokyo last year.
The 10th and 11th floors of the Grand Hyatt Hotel transformed into a veritable art marketplace, with 65 galleries from Korea, Japan, China and other Asian countries turning hotel rooms into mini-galleries.
Visitors had to walk along the dimly lit corridors to go in and out of the rooms filled with art works. It sometimes got crowded in the corridors and small rooms, but somehow it was part of the charm of the event.
It also proved to be a challenge for the galleries to display paintings, sculptures, prints, installations and other works in the small rooms assigned to them.
A few galleries removed the beds, allowing more space for sculptures and installations. Some were creative, using every inch of the room, including closets and bathrooms, as space for art. Gallery Jinsun placed some creepy-looking monster sculptures on top of the toilet seat, while Gallery Godo displayed a sculpture by Park Young-soo inside the closet.
Other galleries were more conventional, putting paintings and prints on the walls and on top of the bed's snowy white sheets.
In Shanghai-based Hwas Gallery's room, Wang Xiang Ming's painting ``Pay Respect to Masters Basquiat Scribbles Forever," was placed against the bed's headboard. David Chau, Hwas Gallery director, said this was the gallery's first time participating in the hotel art fair.
``We thought it was a good idea. We heard the hotel art fair in Tokyo did very well, so we wanted to see how it would be this year. We've seen a lot of creative stuff being done to the rooms by the galleries. We're still pretty conventional," Chau told The Korea Times.
There was a lot of interest in Asian artists. Works by established Asian artists still had some eye-popping price tags, but there were surprisingly affordable pieces by young and fresh talent in the region. Tokyo-based Gallery Yamaguchi brought works by 24-year-old Japanese artist Chisato Sakaue, most of which were already sold during the VIP preview.
Some of the artists were at the fair to meet and talk with the visitors. At eitoeiko gallery's room, Japanese artist Masaru Aikawa explained how he duplicates CD album covers of his favorite rock groups, such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Megadeath, on canvas.
``I love rock, punk and hardcore metal music. These are all my favorite CDs," he told The Korea Times, gesturing to the bed strewn with albums, which are accompanied by an actual CD on which he sings the songs a cappella.
As expected, Korean artists were in the spotlight. There were Kim Dong-yoo's elaborate pixel paintings, Bahk Seon-ghi's charcoal sculptures, Lee Heum's eye-catching cake paintings and Lee Kyung-ho's lenticular works.
The usual big name galleries ― including Arario, Kukje and Hyundai ― were missing from the list of participants, but it didn't seem to matter to the crowd at the AHAF.
The special AHAF exhibitions caught the attention of visitors. Celebrity artists Naul and Minki Zio filled the rooms with their works. Zio created bed sheets silk-screened with a seascape, while Naul showed African influences in his art works.
Renowned Korean artist Lee U-fan's works were displayed in a suite for the exhibition ``Communication and Relational Aesthetics," which was organized in collaboration with Shimoda Kenzi, who has collected Lee's works for 30 years.
Overall, the hotel art fair concept did garner a lot of interest, but it remains to be seen whether it will be the start of a new trend in Korea. By presenting a diverse selection of Asian artists, the AHAF 09, which ended Sunday, seems to have fulfilled its goal of promoting cultural exchange among the art markets in the region.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr 
