COLONISTS – THE ÉLESD ART COLONY AT GÖDÖLLŐ
a joint exhibition of the Gödöllő Applied Arts House and the Élesd Art Colony Association at the Várkapitányi lak (Constable’s Lounge) in Gödöllő
exhibiting artists: Bajkó Dániel, Balázs Imre Barna, Bodoni Zsolt, Ferenczy Zsolt, Furák-Pop László, Horváth Ági, Kaliczka Patrícia, Kovács Kitti, Kovács Lehel, Máriás István aka Horror Pista, Mátyási Péter, Nagy Benjámin, Szakál Éva, Szabó Anna-Mária
curated by: Zuh Deodáth
opening: 13. 05. 2023. 6pm
greeting words by: Dr. Gémesi György
opening words by: Zuh Deodáth
open on all weekends from 14:00 to 19:00, until the 20th of August 2023
adress: Várkapitányi Lak, 2100 Gödöllő, Szabadság street 2.
supporter: Gödöllő City Council
Excerpts from the curator’s introduction:
We tend to see the Avant-garde making a general plea for re-establishing the the unity of art and life. It is still worth remembering that fin-de-siécle ambitions to pursue the total work of art, specially those having particular interest in the general outlook of the Arts and Crafts movement (like in the case of the Gödöllő group) were all explicitly standing for the organic unity of artistic production and everyday life.
In addition, the variegated forms of artistic activities are never closer to exigent technical demands and to the realm of our everyday conduct than in the case of an art colony. Physical proximity and a sort of occlusion warrant for unity.
The twenty-six years’ history of the Élesd community point to the fact that even trying periods – that not even families could ever avoid – were never delivering the right motivation to change or to abolish the basic guidelines of its opeartion. It is to remember: the choice to march out is also a chance stood for a better and qualitatively upgraded return into the context temporarily deserted. An artists repleat with local impulses will be always better fitting the framework of its own profession than those answering the demands of higher art appreciation just mediated by the life of others.
It is better to behold this show as one surveying the works of ambitiously modern, non-regional, but regionally informed and universally oriented artists and artisans.
On the exhibiting artists:
The Élesd/Aleșd Art Colony was an initiative of a group of students from the Transylvanian region of Romania attending the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts, and it dates back to 1997. The tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth anniversaries of its existence were honored by exhibitions at Ernst Museum in Budapest, at Modem – Museum of Modern Art in Debrecen, respectively at the Kunsthalle of Budapest. As a recent improvement, an emerging group of younger artists tends to consolidate its position around a handful of founding members.
Photo I László Végh