A Saturday Outing to the Gwon Jin-kyu Art Museum in Chuncheon

Visit to the Kwon Jin-kyu Museum

I visited the Kwon Jin-kyu Museum located in Chuncheon. It seems to be in the outskirts of Chuncheon. On the way, I looked at the tall mountains as if I was going to enjoy the autumn leaves, and I wondered if people would actually come to such a place. However, when I arrived, there were quite a few families visiting. I found it fascinating to think about how they all discovered this place.

The parking lot was quite spacious, and it wasn’t just a simple museum; it seemed like a small town with a bakery, a jjimjilbang, a steakhouse, and an herbal medicine experience center. I guess this is referred to as ‘Dalsil’.

As I entered the museum, Iron Man was standing guard. Perhaps they made it family-friendly by considering the presence of children?

When I went up to the next floor, there were other characters guarding the entrance. (To access floors 2 through 4, a ticket costs 10,000 won each.)

Inside, I found what seemed like thousands of miniatures. I thought kids would love this, and surprisingly, my spouse and I enjoyed it too. I was amazed to learn that all those miniatures were collected by a single person. Out of curiosity, I asked at the reception desk how many years it took to collect them. What a collection! Of course, there were characters like Mazinger Z and Robot Taekwon V, along with others like Iron 28 and Jjanga, as seen in the photo below. Haha.

I wondered if there were any figures of Casan, which I used to watch a lot as a kid. I eventually found one, but it was a small size and not very detailed, which was somewhat disappointing…

Then there was the Punch Leader… haha.

This is Wonder Woman. There were various versions of miniatures, and while I didn’t particularly like Wonder Woman, this one caught my attention. It has a cool yet warm look in its eyes. If I could find one like this to buy, I would consider it, but even after searching the internet, I couldn’t find it.

It seems like miniatures cost anywhere from a few tens of thousands to several hundred thousand won; especially those that can be considered vintage are said to exceed one million won now. I had a silly thought about collecting miniatures and passing them down to future generations. Haha.

After enjoying the miniatures, I finally explored the Kwon Jin-kyu works. Since I prefer experiencing artworks in person, I didn’t take many photos. In addition to the Kwon Jin-kyu pieces, there were other paintings on display as well.

I wondered why he chose to work with terracotta… The attraction of terracotta seems to be something the artist, Kwon Jin-kyu, thought about as follows. Terracotta… I hope to try my hand at sculptures and terracotta when I eventually get a house with a large yard.

In November 2017, the museum will exhibit works from 20 selected artists as part of a competition held over the past year. These are painting works, and the winner will receive a grant of 10 million won, decided purely by votes from paying visitors. I think I’ll visit again in November to check it out. Haha, I’m curious…

After finishing the exhibition, I went into the bakery. I was feeling peckish and craving coffee…

They were selling freshly baked bread. The staff were dressed in outfits that matched the children’s height, and some artworks were also displayed in the bakery. There were many families visiting, along with people in hiking attire.

Outside, they had created a small park-like area, and they were also raising a Shetland pony.

There was also a jjimjilbang and an herbal medicine experience center, but I didn’t stop by there and headed back. It was a relaxing Saturday afternoon.