Some of our earliest memories are built around play. A handful of toys could become an entire cast of heroes and villains. A living room floor could transform into a sprawling battlefield, while imagination filled in every detail that reality could not. Although those moments belong to childhood, the emotions they carry often stay with us. It is this sense of wonder that artist Sean Go revisits in Playground, his latest solo exhibition at Leon Gallery, running from August 15 to September 1.
At first glance, the exhibition presents sweeping landscapes filled with mountains, forests, and waterways. The paintings feel grand and expansive, almost like maps waiting to be explored. But the closer you get, the more they begin to reveal. Hidden within these scenes are familiar characters that many grew up with, from Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! to Godzilla, alongside villains from Star Wars and Fallout. Every canvas encourages viewers to slow down, look again, and discover something they may have missed the first time.
That sense of discovery lies at the heart of Playground. Rather than simply revisiting childhood memories, Go recreates the feeling of being completely immersed in them. His paintings capture the excitement of inventing stories, staging imaginary battles, and building worlds where anything could happen. It is a reminder that imagination has always been one of our most powerful ways of making sense of the world.
Many of the works stretch nearly ten feet across, allowing viewers to feel as though they are stepping directly into these imagined landscapes. The scale gives the paintings a physical presence that mirrors the way childhood memories often feel larger than life. Mountains, forests, and rivers become settings where familiar characters coexist, inviting each visitor to create their own narrative as they move through the exhibition.
Go’s visual language reflects a wide range of influences. The bold energy of Parisian street art, hip hop graffiti, and New York punk culture can all be found throughout the exhibition, blending naturally with references to animation, comics, games, and contemporary painting. Thick layers of paint inspired by Philip Guston’s expressive style add depth and character, creating works that feel both playful and thoughtfully constructed.
The artist also embraces experimentation in the way each piece is made. Acrylic paint, spray paint, leather paint, and watercolor appear alongside crayons, grease pencils, Sharpies, and even ballpoint pens. Instead of hiding the creative process, every mark becomes part of the finished work, giving each painting its own rhythm and personality.
Adding another dimension to the exhibition is a collaboration with Sean’s brother, Mark Brendan Go, whose custom three dimensional printed resin and PETG frames extend the experience beyond the canvas. Designed to resemble castle walls and building blocks, the frames encourage viewers to shift between the larger landscape and the smaller stories unfolding within it. The result feels interactive, almost like opening a window into the worlds that inspired the paintings.
Go’s path to becoming an artist is far from conventional. Before fully embracing fine art, he built a career in corporate finance with Ernst and Young Transaction Advisory Services in San Francisco before moving into venture capital with Techstars. Alongside his professional career, he pursued higher education at UC Berkeley, Columbia University, Parsons Paris, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Emory University. Time spent in Paris also exposed him to the works of George Condo, Andy Warhol, and Jean Michel Basquiat, influences that continue to shape his artistic perspective today.
More than an exhibition about nostalgia, Playground is about reconnecting with a way of seeing that often fades with time. It reminds us that imagination is not something we outgrow, but something we carry into every stage of life. Through richly layered paintings and familiar cultural references, Sean Go invites viewers to pause, look a little closer, and remember what it felt like when every empty space had the potential to become an extraordinary world.
.
.
Alike was created to inspire, built on society and storytelling — it’s curating the best features of the country’s brightest luminaries, orchestrating events catered towards the country’s top, to showcasing the finest gems in art, lifestyle, and culture.
Alike is the next generation, the movers, the shakers of today.
We are Alike.
