Sean Go confronts the monumental in homecoming exhibition

Following acclaimed exhibitions in Japan, the United States and across Europe, Filipino contemporary artist Sean Go returns to Asia with his highly anticipated solo show Colossus, opening on 6 September at León Gallery International in Makati. This groundbreaking exhibition takes audiences on a profound journey into the heart of what it means to be small, to be overwhelmed, and to stand in awe of forces larger than ourselves.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by scale,” Go reflects. “It shaped my childhood — the towering T-Rex in Jurassic Park, the sheer force of Godzilla and King Kong smashing through cityscapes, and the epic battles staged on the simple grids of Battleship and Snakes and Ladders. These weren’t just stories; they were ways of understanding my place in a world that often felt too big to grasp.”

Colossus is Go’s most ambitious attempt yet to bring that feeling to life. The exhibition features monumental works reaching up to seven feet in height and nine feet across, each piece standing as a tribute to the giants that have captivated audiences for generations. More than mere recreation, Go strives to capture the essence of scale itself — the overwhelming presence that compels viewers to crane their necks and feel truly small.

At the core of the exhibition is an innovative construction approach. Using a fusion of traditional and new media, each sculpture is crafted from 3D-printed components with the technical assistance of Go’s brother, Mark. Far from smooth or polished, the surfaces are deliberately rough, resembling intricate micromachines — tiny, interlocking parts that suggest both immense complexity and immense power.

“It’s a paradox: the smallest parts building the biggest creatures,” Go explains, underscoring the conceptual brilliance at the heart of the show.

This micromachine aesthetic gives the works an almost organic vitality, as though these giants could spring to life at any moment. Viewers are drawn into a dual experience: marveling at the minute details of the individual components while confronting the overwhelming totality of the assembled figure.

The visual language of Colossus reflects Go’s distinctive fusion of street art’s raw energy with the storytelling traditions of classic comic books. The result is a dynamic vocabulary that blends urban grit with explosive pop-culture dynamism — works that feel at once nostalgic and futuristic.

“This show is an invitation to look up, to be humbled, and to rediscover the wonder of facing something monumental,” Go adds. “It’s the same sensation you feel standing at the foot of a skyscraper or imagining a dinosaur’s roar echoing across a valley.”

More than an art exhibition, Colossus emerges as a philosophical meditation on scale, power, and the sublime.

The exhibition will be on view from 6 to 15 September at León Gallery International, located on the ground floor of Corinthian Plaza, 121 Paseo de Roxas, Legazpi Village, Makati City.