Everything is fine!
Szabolcs Barakonyi,
Péter Hecker
We are delighted to announce our next, joint exhibition of two renown Hungarian artists, photographer Szabolcs Barakonyi and painter Péter Hecker. Here and now, in the reality of present Hungary, Everything is Fine!, declares the two artits.
However, while accidently popping into a spontaneous, rather weird demonstration in the Square of Heroes, they found themselves surrounded by ludicrous signs and posters. The set-up of that scene immediately questioned the statement of the exhibition title. By posing together on the square, they as well declared, this situation is silly, it is totally bizarre and absurd here. Then the question is evoked, are we really fine here?
Barakonyi constantly travels through Hungary to find those incidents where the bizarr meanings of social behaviour can be cought on his lenses. A man dressed in suit is balancing on a ladder while installing an empty billboard, a drank man pretending to be an outlaw while exercising his scourge, the bizarre image of tooters attempting to sing down the birds in the lawn, or the elephant eating its tricolor lunch - are not everyday visual treats. Hecker also works from the gather of Hungarian conscious, he uses photos, internet images as primary inspiration sources. He puts such „Hungaricums” into the center of his latest series, he paints the crown, the world famous sausage or the pilow used for carryingthe scissors cutting the cordons when inaugurating new buildings or national events. Here, we see Hecker at the peak of his self-irony. Although using different media, both artists rive moments from their original contexts. By doing that, they don t only enrich these stories with extra meanings, but unfold all their dullness and banalities. Hecker seems to be more permissive however, more kind to our nation, while Barakonyi s critical realism is much sharper, his reading is less forgiving. In any case, at the end of the day, they both agree, that Everything is Fine.
Péter Hecker was born in Budapest, in 1963. He studed at the Kassel Gesammthochschule and in the Hungarian Fine Art University. He had numerous local and international exhibitions, and his works can be found in many private and corporate collections.
Szabolcs Barakonyi was born in Budapest, in 1976. In 2006 he received the Lucien Hervé és Rodolf Hervé prizes, in 2007 the Recontres d arles photo service publishing prize, and 2011 the André Kertész prize.
05. 27. 2015 - 06. 27. 2015