SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island - The first museum dedicated to Korea's leading contemporary artist, Park Seo-bo, is being built on Jeju Island. The museum will open in the summer of 2024 at the site next to the JW Marriott Jeju Resort and Spa.
“I was very happy when they offered to build a museum (at the JW Marriot Jeju Resort and Spa). Throughout my life, I wanted to start my own museum,” Park said at a press conference at the JW Marriot Jeju Resort and Spa on Tuesday.
About 80 percent of the museum, designed by Spanish architect Fernando Menis, will be underground and will be built using a new type of concrete invented by the architect called Picado. Menis will use a mixture of concrete and basalt, a type of volcanic rock widely found on the island, the architect said at the press conference.
Located northwest of the JW Marriott Jeju Resort and Spa on a 12,137-square-meter lot, the three-story building is expected to open to the public this summer. The five-star hotel is located near Seogwipo City's columnar junctions, and rocky cliffs along Jeju Daepo's coastline, which is formed by volcanic columns.
Born in 1931, Park is one of the founders of the Dansaekhwa or "monochrome painting" movement. Since the mid-1970s, the art genre has encompassed a wide range of artists who saw art creation as a method of meditative self-discipline. Dansaekhwa is internationally known as an abstract art movement unique to Korea and a leader in the Korean contemporary art scene.
Park, who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, said she was shocked and felt like "the sky was falling" when she heard the news, as she still has a lot of work and painting to do. However, she decided to "see cancer as a friend and live with it."
"I'm very good at letting things go (and accepting reality). It was very hard to accept the fact for a few days, but now I've forgotten that I have cancer. I decided to come out because I wouldn't be able to paint if I went through it one treatment to cure the disease,” he said.
Park added that he sought to build a museum in his hometown of Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province. However, the plan announced by the county office in 2020 has recently collapsed due to administrative problems.
"I hope my art can help heal people who have hard feelings deep in their minds. That's one of the reasons I paint," Park said.
The museum, tentatively named the Park Seo-bo Museum, will be operated by the GIZI Foundation, a non-profit foundation established by the artist in 2019 to manage Park's artworks and archives.
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