We may be a little biased, but Korea’s art scene in the last decade has been pushed to the forefront of the global discussion. Korean art has long been an integral facet of the culture, and its modern/contemporary traditions have long proliferated locally without the prying eyes of the West. It’s on us that we’re only now paying attention to it.

Art followers certainly are familiar with the Dansaekhwa movement, whose minimalist repetitions have become staples of international art fairs. But the legacy genre isn’t the only artistic output of this nation. And the commercial trade of the art market isn’t a new phenomenon, either.

Homegrown galleries have been operating here since the 1970s, and have been putting in the work to engage with the rest of the world since Korea opened up in 1988. In the last decade, the range of modern and contemporary art galleries is significant, robust and keen to international operations.

On the eve of Frieze opening an inaugural Seoul outpost, and the 20th edition of KIAF (Korean International Art Fair), The Baer Faxt presents a cheat sheet of this magnanimous market and art city: Who to know, where to find them and why it matters!