After a buzzed-about debut in 2022 that even attracted K-pop stars, the artwork honest Frieze Seoul can be again on the Coex middle within the South Korean capital for its sophomore outing, working from Thursday to Sept. 9 and that includes 121 galleries.

“It was explosive,” the Seoul-based modern supplier Jason Haam mentioned of the inaugural version, which got here as pandemic restrictions and collectors’ journey habits had been loosening up.

“It came at just the right time. We had this prestigious international fair,” Mr. Haam added, “and it gave us a lot of pride.”

A prestigious showcase is vital for sellers, however given the price of exhibiting at gala’s — particularly to journey from distant — they count on to see outcomes.

“We sold out our presentation,” mentioned Kurt Mueller, a senior director of David Kordansky Gallery of Los Angeles and New York. “It could not have gone better.”

Frieze, which is owned by the sports activities and leisure conglomerate Endeavor, has been on an enlargement tear. Over the summer time, it announced that, past its 4 marquee gala’s — in London, New York, Los Angeles and Seoul — it had additionally bought the Armory Show in New York, which runs from Sept. 8 to 10 on the Javits Center, in addition to Expo Chicago, a spring occasion.

The Seoul occasion will itself be barely greater in its second outing, with three extra sellers than there have been final yr. (For comparability, the general measurement is much like Frieze’s Los Angeles honest and round twice as massive because the New York one.)

As it did final yr, Frieze Seoul will overlap with the artwork honest Kiaf, which focuses on Korean artwork and takes place on a distinct ground of Coex. The gala’s will once more collaborate on some programming, and provide dual-entry tickets.

According to Frieze Seoul’s director, Patrick Lee, greater than half of the sellers are based mostly in Asia or are worldwide galleries with outposts on the continent, a rise from final yr.

For the second yr, the honest will characteristic a piece referred to as Focus Asia, with 10 galleries hailing from Bangkok; Singapore; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and different cities.

Mr. Lee mentioned such efforts gave the honest a definite taste that was a part of its attraction. “It can’t be cookie-cutter,” he mentioned, noting the competitors from dozens of artwork gala’s globally.

“We’re continuing to tap into the potential of Asia,” Mr. Lee added. “It’s a big place. Frieze Seoul is a Pan-Asian fair; that’s how I see it. It’s a foothold for the whole continent.”

Mr. Lee emphasised that this spherical, the honest has options that transcend supplier cubicles. The beefed-up programming slate consists of an expanded version of Frieze Film, which can present works by 14 Korea-based artists specializing in transferring pictures, with screenings at a number of nonprofit artwork areas round Seoul.

There will even be an set up by the inaugural winner of the Artist Award at Frieze Seoul, Hannah Woo. Her work “The Great Ballroom,” product of draped materials, will hold from the ceiling of Coex.

Fairs solely thrive if the proper consumers present up, although, and the New York-based collector Miyoung Lee can be amongst these attending once more this yr.

“It blew my mind how sophisticated the Korean market was,” Ms. Lee, who’s Korean American, mentioned of final yr’s honest. “The Western galleries brought their A-game, too. People brought things they could have sold over the phone.”

She added, “Now, I know the word is out, and I think even more people will be coming.”

Ms. Lee, a trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art, mentioned that finally yr’s honest she bought a bit by the multidisciplinary artist Candice Lin from the supplier François Ghebaly, who has galleries in New York and Los Angeles.

Returning galleries on the honest can be providing slates of works chosen partly based mostly on the expertise of 2022. David Kordansky did effectively with a solo sales space, and so it’s presenting one other, this time that includes the Los Angeles artist Mary Weatherford. Her swirling, colourful work on linen embody “Night of the Thumpasorus” (2023). Some of the works incorporate neon lights.

“We’ve shown her at Art Basel Hong Kong, and there’s been strong interest in her work, but we’ve never had a chance to do a full presentation in Asia,” Mr. Mueller, the senior director of David Kordansky, mentioned of Ms. Weatherford. “This is an opportunity to bring a new body of work to Asian collectors and institutions.”

For his half, Mr. Haam, the Seoul-based modern supplier, is exhibiting some youthful artists, together with the 27-year-old figurative painter Moka Lee, based mostly in Seoul. The supplier can be exhibiting her 2022 oil “Ego Function Error.”

“We’re trying to develop the next generation of Korean artists,” Mr. Haam mentioned.

But he additionally represents some well-known worldwide names, together with the British sculptor Sarah Lucas and the Swiss-born set up maestro Urs Fischer. Mr. Fischer’s 2015 sculpture “UF” — product of Aqua-Resin, metal, wax, pigment, nails and adhesive — can be in Mr. Haam’s sales space.

“There’s a gravity to his works,” the supplier mentioned of Mr. Fischer, referring to a power that brings collectors towards items by lesser-known makers. “Having that means people take the gallery more seriously.”

Frieze Masters, the honest’s specialty part for older artwork, will even return this yr.

“Last year was our first Masters outside London,” mentioned Nathan Clements-Gillespie, the director of Masters. (In London, it has its personal separate tent.)

“It was an incredible success,” Mr. Clements-Gillespie mentioned. “We had queues of people lined up to look at medieval manuscripts. It’s exciting and energizing to have these works juxtaposed with contemporary art.”

One of the sellers within the part is Gray of Chicago and New York.

“The collectors are independent-minded and idiosyncratic,” Paul Gray, a co-owner of the gallery, mentioned of the Seoul crowd. “They don’t follow trends.”

Mr. Gray will present work by well-known Twentieth-century artists together with Jean Arp and Pablo Picasso. One of the sales space’s star points of interest can be a big portray by Joan Mitchell, “Untitled (Canada)” (1975).

The gallery additionally offers in modern works by residing artists, and to that finish it can additionally present newer work in its sales space, together with Alex Katz’s “Saturday” (2002) and Torkwase Dyson’s “Transverse-Black Lake_2 (Elevation)” (2023).

Some galleries decide to have a roommate of kinds, electing to share a sales space. That is the case for Whistle of Seoul and ROH of Jakarta, Indonesia.

“It’s our first joint booth,” says Kyungmin Lee, the director of Whistle. “It’s an experiment.” She mentioned that every gallery would present the work of 4 artists.

“It’s our home fair, and we have a solo show in the gallery at the same time,” Ms. Lee mentioned, referring to an exhibition of the Seoul-based painter Eimei Kaneyama within the gallery’s area within the Itaewon neighborhood. “This expands our platform in another way.”

Whistle’s Frieze choices embody “Extructed Mountain (Single Peak)” (2020), a sculpture in resin, cement and polystyrene by Hyun Nahm, an artist based mostly in Goyang, South Korea.

Last yr, Whistle confirmed within the Focus Asia part, however this time its sales space is in the principle honest, a transfer that places the gallery in highly effective firm.

Kurimanzutto of Mexico City and New York will once more present in the principle part this yr. Mónica Manzutto, a co-founder of the gallery, mentioned that final yr’s Seoul honest had been successful.

“During the pandemic, we had not met with our Asian collectors, and it was a great moment to catch up,” Ms. Manzutto mentioned.

The Kurimanzutto sales space will embody the oil “untitled (news)” (2021—22) by the Colombian-born painter Óscar Murillo, and an untitled work in gold leaf and newspaper by Rirkrit Tiravanija. Mr. Tiravanija — a multimedia artist who lives and works in Berlin; New York; and Chiang Mai, Thailand — has his largest museum survey to this point developing in October at MoMA PS1 in New York.

A beaded sonic sculpture by the Seoul- and Berlin-based artist Haegue Yang, basically a curtain of stainless-steel bells, will lead right into a separate sales space space containing different items by Ms. Yang, together with collagelike works on paper.

Ms. Manzutto mentioned the items in her gallery’s sales space had been chosen not solely with gross sales in thoughts. An artwork honest sales space can be a billboard of kinds meant to draw the eyes of the curators, museum administrators and different art-world influencers in attendance.

“We want to place the works, but we also want to expand their careers,” she mentioned. “To me, that’s the real power of an art fair, and why it’s worth the investment.”