Now In Korea
Affordable O Yun Woodcuts Offered at Seed Art Festival to Fund Artist Loans
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
Seed Art Festival (‘씨앗페’) will feature ten woodcuts by prominent 1980s Korean printmaker O Yun (오윤) at dramatically low prices—ranging from 900,000 to 2,800,000 KRW—during the fair at Insa Art Center from the 14th to 26th. O Yun, a leading figure in minjung art (people’s art movement), believed art should be shared widely; his prints were historically used on book covers, labor leaflets, and democratization posters. His works have sold for much higher prices at auction, making these festival prices an intentional “return to the people.”
The O Yun prints were donated by his family to raise an emergency mutual-aid loan fund for artists who are often excluded from mainstream banking. The Seed Art Festival, organized by Korea Smart Cooperative, collects art sales and donations to build a revolving loan fund that receives matching from partner financial institutions—turning modest contributions into low-interest (around 5% APR) loans. The fund addresses a documented financing gap: a survey by the cooperative found 84.9% of Korean artists are excluded from primary banking and nearly half have faced ultra-high interest loans (15%+).
The fair’s third-floor G&J Gallery will also present works by veteran minjung artists such as Kim Jun-kwon, Park Bul-dong, Shin Hak-chul, and about 100 other artists with some 200 works. Previous Seed Art Festival efforts raised significant funds with high repayment rates, and organizers frame purchasing these discounted works as both collecting and direct solidarity with artists in financial crisis.
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