Readings of Vanitas

In the 17^th cent­ury, vanit­as still lifes drew at­tent­ion to the bre­vity and tran­sien­ce of human life, as well as the fu­ti­lity of worldly things. This theme has cap­ti­vat­ed ar­tists th­ro­ug­ho­ut his­to­ry, as they cons­ci­o­usly ack­now­ledge, ex­pe­ri­en­ce, and pro­cess the pro­fo­und quest­ion of mor­ta­lity that af­fects every human being.

The three-room group ex­hi­bit­ion, Read­ings of Vanit­as, pre­sents con­tem­por­ary in­terp­re­ta­tions of this old art his­to­ri­cal theme, span­ning from the mid-six­ti­es to the pre­sent. The se­lec­ti­on inc­lu­des paint­ings, prints, dra­wings, sculp­tu­res, tex­ti­les, video works, and ins­tal­la­tions ref­lect on a 'read­ing' of the vanit­as theme. The ex­hi­bit­ion is or­ga­ni­zed around nine the­mes, each cen­te­red on an early vi­su­al sub­ject, such as the danse ma­ca­bre, vanit­as still life, homo bulla (bubb­le-blo­wer), the pas­sage of time, the ages of life, mo­ur­ning, or ruins. Ad­di­ti­o­nally, a se­pa­ra­te sec­ti­on aims to high­light the pos­si­bi­li­ti­es that exist beyond the con­cept of tran­sien­ce. In the conc­lu­ding sec­ti­on tit­led Sym­bols of Eter­nity, a dis­tinct group of works ins­pi­red by ul­ti­ma­te quest­ions will exp­lo­re the tim­eless sour­ce that trans­cends human exis­ten­ce and tran­sien­ce.

For con­tem­por­ary ar­tists, this exp­lo­ra­ti­on of me­aning is not de­ri­ved from tra­di­ti­on, con­vent­ion, re­li­gi­on, or cul­tu­re; ins­tead, it is an in­di­vi­du­al cho­i­ce and deep inner com­mit­ment. These cre­a­tive app­ro­a­ches can help vie­wers gain a clear­er un­der­stand­ing of the sub­ject, al­lo­wing the pro­cess of in­terp­re­ta­ti­on and the role of the art­work as a ves­sel of me­aning to serve as a way to trans­cend tran­sien­ce.

Ex­hi­bi­ted ar­tists: 

ASZ­TA­LOS Zsolt, BAK­SAI Jó­zsef, BA­RA­NYAY And­rás, CSON­TÓ Lajos, CSUR­KA Esz­ter, ELE­KES Ká­roly, ÉR­ME­ZEI Zol­tán, FAR­KAS-PAP Éva, FEHÉR Lász­ló, FE­REN­CZY Zsolt, FILP Csaba, GAÁL Jó­zsef, GÁL­HIDY Péter, GAN­CZAUGH Mik­lós, GÉMES Péter, GER­GELY Réka, GESZ­TE­LYI NAGY Zsu­zsan­na, GILLY Tamás, GÖ­BÖ­LYÖS Luca, HAJDÚ Kinga, HA­LÁSZ Péter, HA­MER­LI Judit, ISKI KO­CSIS Tibor, JO­VI­ÁN György, JU­HÁSZ Éva, KA­RÁ­CSO­NYI Lász­ló, KÁR­PÁ­TI Tamás, KE­SE­RÜ Ilona, KON­DOR At­ti­la, KO­ROK­NAI Zsolt, KO­VÁCS Lola, KÖNYV Kata, KŐ Virág, LAJTA Gábor, LIP­KO­VICS Péter, LOVAS Ilona, ME­NA­SÁ­GI Péter, NAGY Géza, OROSZ Ist­ván, PÁSZ­TOR Gábor, PÉ­RE­LI Zsu­zsa, POL­GÁR Bo­tond, RA­BÓCZ­KY Judit, RÉ­VÉSZ Anna, RICH­TER Sára, SOÓS Nóra, SZABÓ Ábel, SZA­LAY Lajos, SZUR­CSIK Jó­zsef, TA­KÁTS Már­ton, TÓTH An­ge­li­ka, WECH­TER Ákos

Cura­tor: KON­DOR-SZI­LÁ­GYI Mária 

On the cover is a de­ta­il from the work Ka­ta­chia­ru-mono II by Anna Ré­vész