Jeju Artist Series 2: Bonte Museum
My current school, NLCS-Jeju in located in Seogwiposi; it was a delightful surprise to find many unique museums displaying traditional Jeju artifacts here. Among those museums, I would describe Bonte Museum as the most impressive museum.
Bonte Museum is located within 30-minute distance from my current school. Situated in one of the most breath-taking nature spots, the museum attracts endless visitors. Bonte Museum is also reputed for its buildings designed by Tadao Ando, who is known for his architectural style using concrete as a main element but also pursuing designs in harmony with nature.
Bonte, the name of the museum, means maintaining the original shape and beauty. As this name indicates, the museum’s first exhibition hall displays Korean traditional artifacts and daily items that were used by commoners during the Joseon Dynasty.
Particularly, I was greatly attracted to Pavilion 5, which mainly exhibited works related to Korean beauty in the 19th century. It is also the place where I, who had not had much interest in Korean folk painting before, first became interested in them. Usually, when I think of Korean folk paintings, the beauty of blank spaces and limited use of colors comes to mind, but actually the Korean folk paintings displayed in Bonte Museum showed splendid, lavish composition and complex colors which totally changed my perspective towards the entire Koreanfolk paintings. In addition, the works were mainly exhibited in the form of folding screens which impressed me even further by the large scale of the works.
The museum also holds collections of Kusama Yayoi artworks. I personally love her artwork named Pumpkin. It was inspiring to find how the artist instilled a new message by interpreting her childhood trauma. Kusama Yayoi recalls her unfortunate childhood full of abuses and misunderstanding. Her parents considered her excessive creativity as a sign of abnormality and viewed her as insane, never giving her a chance for proper counseling or treatment. Despite the adverse environment, Kusama Yayoi kept drawing and painting, creating her unique artistic world. She utilized pumpkin, her favorite object from childhood, as a main ingredient and applied dots that had remained in her head and produced this unique art series.
Bonte Museum also holds various classes on art and artists. It is planning on launching an English museum education program for young children and teenagers. In fact, I am currently recruiting young students who are interested in participating in this museum education program. If your younger siblings are interested in this museum tour, feel free to contact me. I will readily recruit them as young bright art lovers and guide them through Bonte Museum.