Most likely it's been six or seven months since my last exhibition visit. My schedule changed last year as there was simply no time for exhibitions, so I had to put aside my love for art, but not for good. I know one day I'll be able to resume my favorite activity and that day came two weeks ago.
In those six months I've been thinking of art and have been looking at some exhibition photos from time to time. The truth is, art has become my life and miss it. So two weeks ago I visited one of my favorite place, finally.
Being a regular (meaning going there twice every month) means they know me already and was ready to reply to the question: where have you been, the minute I step into the gallery and that's exactly what happened. The first question the lady asked was where have you been. It felt good to know they still remember me.
There were two exhibition available to visit. One was a mixed art exhibition by Anna Szotyory, a lovely one and the other was a photo exhibition. Today I'm going to show you Anna Szotyory's art.
I have a habit that don't intend to change. Always go to any exhibition, without looking up the artist or learning anything about the exhibition, except for what the paper says. This way there's that sweet first moment, when you step in the gallery and have the first look, to see what the exhibition is about. It's a good habit as I always go without any expectations and never get disappointed.
This was not the first piece I saw in the gallery, it was the third actually, but this was the first photo I can use, that is without reflection.
When I entered the gallery and saw all the artworks were covered by glass, ... I needed to take a deep breath as this is my biggest enemy. During my forced break from art, I totally forgot what I have to deal with in galleries, and realizing what's ahead of me felt like a slap on my face, but at the end of the day, it is what it is, you have to deal with it.
Back to the graphics you see above, I love it and would be happy to own it! Many don't like this kind of art because it's not colorful, it's black and white, maybe they consider it simple, but trust me, there's nothing simple here. When I see an artwork, I'm always thinking of how it has been created and how I would recreate such a graphics, or painting or sculpture. This is when you see how complex most of these artworks are. In this particular case, you have pencil and paper and the rest depends on you, how you draw those lines, how you use the shadows to highlight what you consider it needs to be highlighted. Is it easy? Not at all.
If you compare the two graphics above, you can see the first one is lighter, while the second one is darker, has a more serious, dramatic tone and that's exactly what the artist meant.
This watercolor painting was a surprise for different reasons. First of all, because it's very different from the first two graphics. Secondly, because it's not often that you see this style, several small paintings on one paper, forming the artwork.
I find it very interesting and tried to figure out if there's a connection between the small paintings, but I don't know if there's any. I see nature, still life, people praying.
The title of the painting is After Bosch and I'm not going to lie, it gave me a bit of a headache as I didn't know what Bosch is referring to. I knew it has nothing to do with the company wearing the same name, but what is it then? So I started digging and a possible explanation could be Hieronymus Bosch, the a Dutch painter from Brabant. I'm not an art connoisseur, I know a good few Dutch painters, but have never heard of Hieronymus Bosch, but this was a good occasion to read about his life and work.
The title of the painting is After Bosch as well. I had a look at the paintings attributed to Bosch and can see a certain similarity in style, but I may be wrong. Anyway, instead of speculating here, I'll let you enjoy the paintings.
At this point I don't know yet how many styles I saw at this exhibition from the same artist, but this is the third one in this post. It's very unusual, for me at least, but I enjoyed it. This painting, at first sight looks like naive art, but I am not sure the artist would agree. I wouldn't hang it on my wall, but that doesn't mean I don't find it interesting.
Memento (after Bruegel)
This time I knew there has to be a Bruegel out there and after a search I found out Pieter Bruegel is another Dutch painter.
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (1525–1530 – 9 September 1569) was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genre painting); he was a pioneer in presenting both types of subject as large paintings. source
At this point I think it's safe to say Dutch art of the 16th - 17th century had an influence on Anna Szotyory's art.
What I find interesting is that this is a graphics, a very complex battle scene, illustrating a lot of pain and suffering, but as far as I could see by running a search, Bruegel mostly left us paintings, so I assume the theme of the graphics has a connection with Bruegel. Although, this graphics from Bruegel looks similar in style.
As I mentioned above, I would not hang this one on my wall, but I find these graphics very valuable. The reason why I would not like to have them on my wall is because of the sadness and pain they express.
I must confess, it was nice to go back to visiting exhibitions and am already looking forward to visiting the next one.
This was the first part of the exhibition. Stay tuned for the next one.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
