Artists: Arang Choi, Aisha Christison, Áron Lőrincz, Gábor Pintér, Rastislav Podhorský, Titania Seidl
Exhibition title: What If I Hypnotize You?
Curated by: Michal Stolárik
Venue: BOLD Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Photography: Marcel Rozhoň
Imagine standing on the threshold of reality, where the boundaries of perception blur and the mind opens to a realm rich with suggestiveness and subliminal signals. You observe subtle repetitions, moments of transformation and unexpected shortcuts in reality, snippets of text that challenge our receptivity, trigger memories and stimulate introspection, manipulate imagination, drawing us deeper into our subconscious. At times bizarrely dreamlike, yet often almost strikingly real, these situations act as a visual metronome, propelling us into an endless black hole of captivating images and thoughts. They raise new questions, inspire and ignite the imagination.
International group exhibition What If I Hypnotize You? features a selection of recent works by contemporary painters based in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Belgium. Their connection builds on and develops past encounters or potential common circuits. Yet it also brings about entirely new and unexpected combinations that allow the works to be looked at from different perspectives. The selection focuses on figurative variations of painting and accentuates multi-layered narratives, at times more intricate plots or ambiguous situations.
The selected works draw from personal experiences as communicated through original mythologies and a unique library of symbols. The artists construct their worlds of painting in alignment with updated principles and forms of Surrealism. Traditional storylines are replaced by mystification, fantasy, automatism, and deliberate distortion. This results in a complex visual-narrative landscape that combines intimate experiences with universal themes, while we witness the abandonment of the rational in favour of intuitive, emotional, or irrational practices.
The diverse visual and conceptual approaches can be divided into two primary strands. Within the first strand, there is painting that, at first glance, presents clear narratives drawing upon reality. Upon closer inspection, however, it gradually unveils deviations from logic and various ideological metamorphoses that transcend the present moment, inviting viewers into unexpected layers of perception. The second strand does not seek to confront reality. Instead, it employs reality to construct a unique visual collage layered with ideas and references, fragmenting reality into pieces that coalesce in new and often unexpected contexts.
