Levente Herman: “The Rhythm of the Bark”
Enter a world of visually enthralling multi-coloured forest scenery in this solo exhibit by Romanian-born Hungary-based artist Levente Herman, now on view at the renowned Várfok Gallery in the Castle District. As an original member of Romania’s Élesd artist colony – founded by students at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 1997 – Herman developed his deft brushwork to create paintings that initially appear as realistic forest depictions… but the geometry of the tree trunks, their rhythmic repetition, and engaging colours reveal surreal levels of meaning hidden in nature.
Where:Várfok Gallery – District I. Várfok utca 11 Tue-Sat 11am-6pm until June 2nd.
Morgan O’Hara: “Live Transmissions”
Global soul Morgan O’Hara – who was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Japan, and now works and resides in New York City – presents expressively moving drawings as recordings of life in her new solo show at the Chimera-Project Gallery, located in the heart of Pest’s District VII. With a technique using both hands to imprint impressions of dancers, performers, politicians and other active figures, O’Hara becomes something of a living seismographic instrument to capture human movement in fascinating abstract sketches full of curvaceous energy and mysterious dark patches.
Where:Chimera-Project Gallery – District VII. Klauzál tér 5 Tue-Fri 3pm-6pm or by appointment until June 8th.
Igor Hosnedl: “The Lecture of Wise Snake”
See the Garden of Eden presented with 21st-century brilliance in the Horizont Gallery’s exhibition by young Czech artist Igor Hosnedl, whose burgeoning repertoire often includes the motif of serpents. Based in Berlin, Hosnedl transforms small-scale graphics into large paintings with sharp outlines and intensely dark tones to present intriguing juxtapositions of bright colours and sombre themes, creating visual symbols that reinterpret traditions of surrealist and metaphysical works. This combination of disparate artistic elements imparts a bizarre fairy-tale feeling to viewers.
Where:Horizont Gallery – District VI. Zichy Jenő utca 32 Tue-Fri 2pm-7pm, Sat 2pm-6pm, or by appointment, until June 13th.
Kendell Geers: “EsemPlastiK – Biting the Hand that Feeds”
Hungary’s holiest relic is the 1,000-year-old mummified right hand of the country’s founding king, Saint Stephen – and this extraordinary extremity provided the inspiration for a modern multimedia exhibit by Brussels-based South African artist Kendell Geers. Pest’s edgy acb Gallery hosts this potentially discomfiting display of hands pointing, shaking and wielding weaponry before colourful abstract backdrops in a varied series of graphics, shown alongside boldly expressive statues like a pair of golden police batons set into stone so as to strongly resemble a crucifix.
Where:acb Gallery – District VI. Király utca 76 Tue-Fri 2pm-6pm or by appointment until June 15th.
István Haász: “Shifting”
Monochrome squares overlap beyond frames in this exhibit by living-legend Magyar artist István Haász, an award-winning visionary of geometric constructivism who is presenting his first solo show at the Ani Molnár Gallery. While Haász’s fresh three-dimensional works emanate an understated sleekness at first glance, look closer at these relief-like visual experiments to observe how the paintings’ playful interplay of light and shadow can confound depth perception. This collection’s contrasting shades of yellow and black invoke alternating sensations of freedom and darkness.
Where:Ani Molnár Gallery – District VIII. Bródy Sándor utca 36 Tue-Fri noon-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm until June 30th.
