Exhibition On View: 25 March - 20 April 2022

If we want to describe the art of Béla Szilárdi in one word, eclecticism is the right term.

The eclecticism of excursions between the branches of art: the well-educated painter Béla Szilárdi, with unremitting diligence, is constantly orienting in many directions. He has also tried his hand at the co-arts: his literary aspirations have taken him straight to the stage, his photographs are published in significant publications, and music (his original profession) connects him to important bands in the history of Hungarian pop music.

And eclecticism in Szilárdi’s painting, which can be traced back to an ambivalence: there is a desire for great synthesis in it and an insight that this synthesis is impossible. Due to his character, he is strongly attached to the idea of representation, but at the same time his theoretical and philosophical inclinations lead to the abstractness of thinking, while objectivity and abstraction are constantly pushing side by side in the image space. At the same time, the logic of his construction is again more drawn to abstractness. The striving to balance the opposites indicates eclecticism, from which Béla Szilárdi builds a distinctly individual style.

In his paintings striking are the images, reminiscent of objects and figures, between the powerful, often saturated spots of colour. From a compositional point of view, with their direct black colour, his lines – sometimes grids – that indicate the orientation, with their accentuated nodes, are given a strong emphasis. The flawlessly handled cavalcade of colours and tones is structured in such a way that the seemingly loose and free, but always precise and tight composition easily shows its rational reality, thus signaling the painter’s awareness and sure mastery of his craft.