Yayoi Kusama’s iconic 'A-Pumpkin (Otrssa)' garners record-breaking bid at Seoul Auction

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's ″A-Pumpkin (OTRSSA)″ was auctioned off at some 7.6 billion won during Seoul Auction's latest event on Nov. 29. [SEOUL AUCTION]

Yayoi Kusama’s iconic large green ″A-Pumpkin (Otrssa)″ painting was auctioned off on Nov. 29 at Seoul Auction for some 7.6 billion won ($5.7 million), the highest bid made for any item traded by auction houses in Korea this year. It also broke the record for the highest auction price among Kusama’s “Pumpkin” series traded in Korea. This 2014 painting’s starting price was 5.9 billion won.

According to Seoul Auction on Wednesday, its latest auction event was open for bidders in both Korea and Hong Kong. It was able to resume the Hong Kong Sale it had to halt for two and a half years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Seoul Action, Kusama’s painting was the largest artwork in the “Pumpkin” series ever submitted to a Korean auction house. Its canvas measures 112 centimeters by 145.5 centimeters. A smaller green “Pumpkin” in the series was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in December 2021. It was auctioned off at some 5 billion won.

Seoul Auction’s latest event featured a total of 84 works. The event came to an end with a total of 12.5 billion won in sales.

Late Japanese artist Tetsuya Ishida’s “Mobile-Phone Robot and Laptop-Computer Boy” (1996), won the second-highest bid of 550 million won.

According to Seoul Auction, it has been organizing the Hong Kong Sale since July 2020 by installing a bidding counter in Hong Kong on the same day of the auction which takes place at Seoul Action in Gangnam, southern Seoul. This year, the counter was at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and potential bidders could also preview the items at the venue from Nov. 25 to 27. A live stream event was also set up for those wanting to participate online.

A special section called K-Art Now was also organized to shed light on artworks by Korean artists. It introduced prominent Korean artists, including Lee Bae, Joung YoungJu, Choe URam, Ha ChongHyun, Yoo YoungKuk and Woo Kuk Won. Five of the K-Art Now works were sold during the event.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]