Raised by her grandmother in a small village surrounded by tangerine fields, without her parents, she had to be endlessly good to survive. Drawing was a luxury. Still, unable to suppress the urge to create, she ran away to the mainland at seventeen. Painting every day without fail to make a living, she gradually built a life as an artist, until she faced an irony: despite everything she had painted, not a single piece could truly be called "her own." The paintings she eventually came to make as "her own" now hold deeply personal emotions and experiences. She finds solace by depicting quiet moments that contrast with overwhelming loneliness, returning again and again to the Jeju she once fled. For Seoyeon, the canvas resembles a refuge. Among towering trees guarding a field that had turned green after giving away its yellow fruit, an abandoned container once stood. Squeezed into that cramped space, she felt, as a child, a complete sense of rest. Though that quiet refuge has scattered with time, her need for peace never left. After much wandering, her brushstrokes layered and soaked into the canvas, until a soft, dreamlike texture emerged, carrying her back to that place once more.

Gallery Belle Vie takes its name from the French phrase La Belle Vie, meaning “the beautiful life.” Beyond its literal translation, Belle Vie embodies a way of living grounded in warmth, generosity, and a sense of grace in everyday moments. Established in Seoul in January 2020, Gallery Belle Vie held its first exhibition in September 2021, and has since presented a series of exhibitions that naturally weave contemporary art into life and space. By curating a dynamic range of exhibitions each year, the gallery seeks to engage with the current moment of contemporary art while discovering and highlighting new perspectives from artists both in Korea and abroad. We believe that when art dissolves the boundary between daily life and personal space, life expands beyond routine and opens into an intimate realm of perception. Gallery Belle Vie aims to be a companion in that journey—guiding viewers to discover their own aesthetic language and to broaden the horizons of their inner world.