Best Booths at Frieze Seoul 2025

Sac Gallery made a bold curatorial statement by dedicating its entire booth to Thai artist and film producer Prapat Jiwarangsan. Titled “Portraits of Asian Family,” the speech marks the development of the gallery from displaying emerging talent to a firm investment in well-known artists. Three video works can be seen that explore the complex dynamics of contemporary Asian identity through exam family structure, cultural expectations and generational transformation. Jiwarangsan’s film background is evident in his approach to narrative-driven work Parasite family (2021-23), he traces the evolution of family roles in different cultural contexts.

On the opening day, Frieze, from his hometown of Sun Gallery, made its debut at the talk point in the Korean gallery world, mainly because its owner Lee Sunghoon is the current chairman of the Korean Gallery Association, which organized the downstairs at the same time as Kiaf Fair. The gallery’s master of finishing introduces Chungji Lee’s “Murue” series, which began in the 1990s and has cast a shadow on the contributions, Dansaekhwa Painter, the only woman in South Korea, despite working in the permanent collection of top museums in the country. “murue” works – portmanteau of French words silent (Wall) and regret (Street) – Lee’s signature process is to cover the canvas with a roller and then scrape them with a knife to create a textured monochrome surface.

The most eye-catching installations at the 13 Artist booth at Arario Gallery are similar kaiju Movie suit with oversized creatures and movie fragments. This theatrical setting is the work of Don Sunpil, who transforms anime statue into an immersive sculpture, challenging the boundaries of high and low art. DON’s installation features mix objects and imperfect replicas deliberately drawn from them Tokusatsu Special effects and Bishōjo Statue, create sculptures, explore tensions between mass production and personal craftsmanship.

In the Asian section of the focus showing emerging galleries from all over the region, Tokyo’s Con_ offers a speech that will actually stop tourists from entering their tracks, rather than grabbing their eyes, but grabbing their feet. Taiki Yokote’s Floating rubble (the mouse will play when the cat is not around)Starting from 2022-25, concrete debris from the artist’s demolition of the studio rotates through magnetic force, while Trash Bags overflows the booth beyond the boundaries of the booth to the sidewalk of the fair. The 26-year-old sculptor represents the rise of Japanese artists who directed this incredible everyday experience into the dynamics installation in a shift from mass media to digital saturation, without gravity and convention. Yokote’s salvaged building materials – resin debris, twisted steel wire, floating debris – EAK will receive pet names such as Po and Ten, reflecting his affectionate relationship with the discarded substance.

Among the works of the Tokyo Gallery, a lighthouse called the booth of Kanata, Hisao Domoto’s Untitled (1966) stands out because its thick black paint strip sits on a layer of striking red paint. This work contrasts sharply with Satoru Ozaki’s work I can see you (2024), a circular stainless steel sculpture similar to a blank. On the opening day of the fair, the artist who the gallery considers “one of Japan’s forgotten and lost treasures” was acquired by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

It’s hard to pass through the booth of the Istanbul gallery Dirimart without feeling a little confused. The stall seems to have nothing, or the replica floating in the air is scaled to half the size while half the size. This is AyşeErkmen’s half (2025), a site-specific installation that creates a booth within the booth effect. Gallery manager Dilara Altuğ told Artnewsnoting that the gallery is relying on visitors’ curiosity to discover layered space interventions hanging within its 527-square-foot space. Exquisite wood made from Japanese shoji paper and wooden buildings is built on Erkmen’s decades of repositioning existing structures, rather than creating new objects.

The collaboration between Beijing’s Aerial Space and the Commonwealth and the Council in Los Angeles highlights how galleries face challenging markets to use resource sharing strategies. Works seen from the roster of each gallery, blending seamlessly: Lotus L. Kang 2024–25 MOLT (Woodridge – Basel -seoul)draped in tanned photo paper, hanging like a transformed body, together with Shuan Li’s paper Our sad lady (2024), a stylish combination of resin, fabric, printed on vinyl to find objects.

In the Masters section, Hakgojae Gallery’s presentation centers on the theme of Korean mothers, anchoring nine groundbreaking Korean artists near the 18th-century moon jar. Here, face the theme of unity – from the stoic post-war women of the Park Soo Keun to the Pen Varlen’s Mother (1985), painted the year when he became the age of his mother. Varlen’s thick layered layers capture deep desires, while the soft asymmetry of the moon tank (by adding two hemispheres) provides an aesthetic anchor and philosophical framework.

In the early days of Frieze Seoul, it seems to be being dragged into institutions by the fair. Now, the dynamic has been flipped, and a colleague of curator encountered at the fair pointed out that the reversal is more evident than at the Hauser & Wirth booth. Mark Bradford’s huge triptych OK, then I apologize (2025), sold to an Asian collector for $4.5 million on the first day, both at the heart of the business and a strategic addition to the artist’s joint exhibition at the Omorpatch Museum of Art. This synchronization between fairness and institutional programming reflects the evolving relationship between gallery and cultural institutions. Two other gallery artists are Louise Bourgeois of the Hoam Museum and Lee Bul of the Leeum Museum – also in the exhibition this week; Hauser & Wirth’s $8 million first-day sales total seemed to reflect more than just commercial success, but overall programming.

In Friz Seoul, Pace shows why the Mega-Galleries are still giant: they preview the future while having a long history. Various abstract strains are being observed representing the global continuum, including the monumentality of Adolph Gottlieb. Extended (1962), at the booth center and Yoo Youngkuk water (1979), this is the first public display. The masters’ work is paired with young artists such as Friedrich Kunath and Lauren Quin, who have recently signed up for gallery. But Pace’s booth focuses on history, reminding people that in times of uncertainty, the gravity of institutions is still on sale.