Ricardo Passaporte: MemoryHood, Nostalgic for something that never happened

Duarte Sequeira presents an exhibition by Portuguese artist Ricardo Passaporte at the gallery's Dosan location in Seoul. Marking the artist ́s second solo exhibition with the gallery, this presentation is organised in two parts in collaboration with Nobless Collection.

Passaporte’s artistic practice questions the nature of creation and contrasts between mass-produced and unique art. Using acrylic and spray paint, his distinct blurring style creates a dream-like aura, exploring the symbolic nature of imagery as a metaphor for the human experience. Drawing inspiration from everyday objects, advertising, branding, and popular imagery, his works challenge traditional artistic values and play with the codes of painting. In a saturated digital world filled with the mundane, Passaporte’s paintings delve into daily life and the absurd.

The exhibition presents a series of paintings weaving the artist ́s personal history with nostalgic childhood images. Each work offers an intimate glimpse into his memories and experiences that have shaped his upbringing and artistic practice, while encouraging a moment of reflection. These sources range from imagery found in old portuguese school manuals to reflections on growing up in the culture of 1990s Lisbon. Such is the case with the “Dot Horse” painting, which pays homage to the knit sweaters his mother lovingly crafted in his childhood. Meanwhile, the conceptual framework for the monochrome paintings came from an unusual encounter and exchange on the streets with a displaced woman.

Passaporte shared images from his personal archive with her, and she then translated these into her own distinctive paintings, offering them back to him in turn. Additionally, the “Bulldog” series draws inspiration from a 90s MTV cartoon clip, and “Cats Playing” captures a Lisbon childhood essence, reflecting on posters that were fixtures of the cityscape.