Silentium
23 January 2008 – 15 February 2008We think that realism is unproblematic art, we get the impression that we understand it since it is everything right in front of us, we know what is depicted, since it is realistic. However, we do not think that we see and understand the realistic pictures of Ábel Szabó, but rather we sense a secret hidden in the evident, the secret of the desire to recognize... The painter does not trust what he sees, does not depict, but interprets. He reinterprets what was seen, wants to learn and teach the image of reality, the one we would not like to see... The art of Ábel Szabó is – in a common word – intellectual (and is closer to Chiricóhoz than Richard Estes). The painter keeps the right to paint a subjective picture. His creative procedure in the beginning, during the selection of the topic may be called conceptual... And if we take the well-known hiperrealists, then it is an obvious, general characteristic, because of this every painter is recognizeable immediately...The panoramas and townscapes often hide a critique of society, a sociological interest, as we got used to it in photography, but there is another screw built into Ábel Szabó's urban panoramas. He depicts the always crowded streets without a single man, e.g. the busiest junction of Rákóczi street...We can see his newest series in INDA Gallery. The title Silentium indicates the quiet contemplation, which is the prerequisite of the painter's work.
Brigitta Muladiart historiancurator of the exhibition
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