Installation view of Belgian artist Rinus Van de Velde's first solo museum exhibition titled "I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub" at Art Sonje Center in central Seoul / Newsis

Belgian artist Rinus Van de Velde / Courtesy of Gallery Baton

How can a 21st-century visual artist, who seldom leaves the confines of his studio, become a 19th-century plein-air painter who seeks out his subjects in the great outdoors?

Well, through the power of imagination, of course, says Rinus Van de Velde. There's a reason the Belgian artist is nicknamed as "the armchair voyager."

The 41-year-old collects photos and news clips, listens to radio, watches films and reads artists' biographies, drawing inspiration for his endless hours of quiet daydreaming. When he feels ready, he transforms these disparate images and texts into his own batch of surrealistic universe, often populated by his own doppelgangers leading lives he himself has never had.

Then, what draws Van de Velde to the lives of plein-air painters, of all things?

"Pleinairism is interesting to me because it is about the furthest thing from my reality," he said in an interview with curator Cho Hee-hyun of Art Sonje Center.

Installation view of Rinus Van de Velde's "I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub" at Art Sonje Center / Newsis

It is in this museum in central Seoul that viewers are offered a glimpse into the role-shifting artist's fantastical world of "fictional autobiography."

His solo show, "I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub," unfolding simultaneously at Art Sonje Center and Space ISU, derives its name from a quote by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) when the fauvist painter traveled to southern France in search of the best natural light for his art.

The phrase, while allowing Van de Velde to liken himself to the iconic French master, also paradoxically suggests that he can embark on an imaginary adventure to exotic worlds from the comfort of his own bathtub at home.

A scene from Rinus Van de Velde's short film, "La Ruta Natural" (2020–21) / Courtesy of Gallery Baton

Rinus Van de Velde's "Prop, Coral" (2020) / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

What connects his hyperrealistic black-and-white charcoal drawings, oil pastel drawings reminiscent of abstract comic strips with handwritten captions and life-size cardboard installations, all on display throughout the musuem's two floors, are two bizarre short films — "A Life in a Day" and "La Ruta Natural."

Playing in an endless loop, without a recognizable beginning or end, these two movies invite the audience to jump into the dreamlike story at any moment. The featured characters all wear masks resembling the artist's own face, creating a peculiar universe that hovers between reality and fantasy.

"A Life in a Day" tracks the journey of a plein-air painter over the course of a day as he traverses a tropical jungle, survives a flood in a swimming pool conjured in David Hockney's style, gathers fragments of his creative inspiration in a briefcase and stores them in his secret vault.

"La Ruta Natural" seems more disjointed, transporting viewers to an underwater vista, a deserted mountain, a fruit stall, a mysterious mechanical room and even the scene of a doppelganger murder.

Rinus Van de Velde's "Fruitstand" (2019) / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

Every prop that appears in Van de Velde's moving images is handmade from cardboard and plywood in his Antwerp studio. From a full-sized car to a scaled-down model of a swimming pool, the sets that form the material backdrop of his cinematic works have been brought to the museum.

These installations, while meticulously handcrafted with great attention to detail to look convincingly real inside the film, do not conceal their artificial nature when observed in real life. Viewers can easily discern the four wheels placed under the car to mimic its engine movement, the crinkled edges of cardboard coral reefs and the half-painted, flimsy surface of a miniature building.

Installation view of Rinus Van de Velde's "I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub" at Space ISU in southern Seoul / Courtesy of Space ISU

By inviting the audience to immerse themselves in this deliberately constructed world, the artist reminds us of how easily our perception of reality can be shaped by cinematic illusion and imagination.

"I am convinced that our imagination is a gift we have been given as human beings and that we should use it to the fullest. It is often more interesting to imagine something than to experience it ourselves in reality," he said. "The daydream is a powerful tool, and we can use it to reflect on reality."

"I Want to Eat Mangos in the Bathtub" will be on view until May 12 at Art Sonje Center and Space ISU. Following its run in Seoul, the show will travel to the Jeonnam Museum of Art in South Jeolla Province in late May.