LIM Subeom: Last Night’s Golden Dragon Mirage

ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL is pleased to present LIM Subeom’s (b. 1997) solo exhibition, _Last Night’s Golden Dragon Mirage_, from July 1 to August 15, 2026. As LIM’s first solo exhibition at ARARIO GALLERY, the show features 62 paintings and ceramic works that delve into unknown realms unshaped by human language or perception, along with the unnamed entities that inhabit them. Driven by a profound curiosity about the origins of nature and matter, LIM has continuously explored liminal beings that cannot be fully defined by human cognition, imagining the consciousness of all things that might have existed before humanity. Viewing the world as a massive, organic network, he summons these undefined entities into pictorial and physical spaces, establishing a unique visual language that dismantles the hierarchy between the center and the periphery. Presented on the basement level of ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL, this exhibition poses a fundamental question about how we perceive "the other" within contemporary social contexts. LIM draws attention to the human history of framing 'strangers,' who breach the rigid boundaries of 'I' and 'we,' as either overwhelming, sacred 'gods' or hideously twisted 'monsters.' Through this, he raises the question: "Can we truly make a clear distinction between the two?" As a medium for this reflection, LIM appropriates the iconography of the _Sasin_ (the Four Guardian Deities: the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise), which protect the four cardinal directions. These guardian deities embody an ambivalence; they are sacred protectors to those within the boundary, yet to those on the outside, they can appear as terrifying monsters. The form of the colossal golden dragon descended upon the exhibition space, alongside the series of four guardian deities that overwhelmingly surround it, departs from conventional representations to visualize beings of a liminal world that are neither gods nor monsters. In a space where the hierarchy between the sacred and the monstrous is dissolved, the exhibition seeks to transcend dichotomies, inviting an expansion of thought and attempting a new dimension of connection with unfamiliar beings.