Seo Dae Ho’s work dissolves the boundary between painting and photography. At first glance, his images can be difficult to distinguish from paintings, yet behind them lies a meticulous process and sustained contemplation. The forms of memory he presents are not the result of simple photo manipulation; rather, they emerge from a three-dimensional performance in which the artist constructs a physical set—placing hand-painted panels in front of and behind a model—and captures the scene in a single instant. The moment viewers realize that these seemingly surreal shapes of memory were in fact realized in a tangible space, they are drawn more deeply into the work.
Seo Dae Ho’s solo exhibition <Fragments of Ephemeral Memory>, presented at Gallery Belle Vie, offers an opportunity to revisit works previously shown at the Seoul Arts Center in 2024, while also introducing, for the first time, a selection of small-scale pieces that have never before been exhibited. By presenting the works in a range of sizes, the exhibition encourages viewers to engage more intimately with the surrounding space, and serves as an experimental attempt to heighten the sense of immersion unique to the photographic medium.
Every moment that has passed becomes memory. Memory overlaps in fragments, fades, and at times grows distorted. This exhibition gives visual form to that process of transformation, metaphorically translating the afterimages and emotions that remain into color and shape. As works and space meet to evoke an atmosphere where past and present seem to coexist, we hope visitors will be able to recall their own forgotten memories—and face their lingering traces once more.
