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Elza Kayal is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Hungarian visual artist Ambrus Gerő taking place from January 10 - February 8, 2025. This marks Gerő's first solo endeavor at the gallery, although he is no stranger to its curatorial program. He previously participated in Beyond Species, a group show curated by the gallery's founder and her FIT troupe in 2019.
The exhibition showcases paintings drawn from an intimate and autobiographical exploration of Gerő's relationships during his thirties. Central to these narratives is Gerő's sense of social alienation and his interaction with prevailing social norms. His bold use of high-contrast color combinations reflects mass media and consumer culture, amplifying their striking nature to underscore these themes. He delves into themes of sexual desires, undertones of intimacy, boredom, and the subtle games people play while wounding one another in a fragile hope of security. Gerő's characters are vulnerable, stripped down to their instincts, embodying his persistent aspiration for human unity — a vision that contrasts sharply with the fractured reality he encounters.
Recently, Gerő has become captivated by the representation of interiors. Circular light casts on walls and the fall of curtains, such as in Pink Room (2024), are recurring motifs. Bedrooms often serve as focal points in his paintings, portrayed as altarpieces of instinct. His overheated images are ambiguous and sometimes humorous, evoking curiosity about the creatures of desire that inhabit them. A transformation takes place in the environment of this series of paintings. Gradually, the rooms and surroundings become richer; the colors are more saturated in the following sequence. The characters swim or float in the reflector light of the intimate enclave of a bedroom. Contrasting colors like ultramarine blue, inspired by traditional Japanese woodblock prints, are paired with hues of orange and yellow in Couple no. 12. - PEACH, 2024.
"My paintings start with researched images on the Internet and taking photographs. I dislocate those photographic elements from their temporal and original contexts, giving them emphasis by placing them within a painterly landscape. After a digital sketch, I create oil paintings focusing on contrast, saturated colors, composition, and visual dynamics. My paintings discuss social alienation and new social norms and deal with my personal history and autobiographical narratives, including my family and relationships. A body of work of mine called “United People,” which I have been developing since 2015, reflects the diversity of people. I portray human figures in various saturated colors, thinking about the diversity of people. The ambiguity of the images comes from the anonymity of the objects and the characters, blurred animalistic identities, and the intimate relationships created once the primer motifs and the backgrounds are combined.
Beyond my painting practice, I work in various mediums; I create immersive spaces that can inspire communities and create fictional narratives to discuss new social norms that didn’t exist before. I fabricate carpets and tables using various materials and digitally produced woven carpets. I aim to make total art where kinetic sculptures are placed at the center while vision, sound, movement, and interaction of the participants create a multi-sensory ambience. Tapping into the polar opposites of alienation and community, I offer rituals to participants, such as the Cacao Ceremony, which is based on a 5000-year-long social formula to enhance unity in a playful way." / Ambrus Gerő