The Still is Life: Attila Bagi’s Solo Exhibiton
2025. Feb. 20. - 2025. Apr. 14.
The MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art warmly invites you to the opening of its latest exhibition on February 20 at 6:00 PM!
Attila Bagi, a visual artist with ties to Debrecen and currently living and working in Budapest, presents his solo exhibition in the Project Space of the MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art, which aims to showcase emerging artists. This exhibition draws from his series that reimagines the tradition and medium-specific possibilities of still life representation within the transformed object culture and technological environment of the 21st century.
Can we glimpse our own individuality through the contemplation of mass-produced consumer goods? What opportunities arise to express personal identity amidst the impersonal indifference of our everyday objects? Can items designed to be disposable serve as tools for preservation and legacy?
Each piece in the exhibition The Still is Life attempts to reinterpret the longstanding tradition of still-life painting: the arrangement of objects, its tropes, and its scenography. Rather than questioning the relevance of this artistic genre, Attila Bagi’s works explore its potential for tradition-conscious yet innovative evolution. To this end, the artist often pushes objects beyond the boundaries of the picture plane, creating installation-like situations and generating tension between objects and their representations. The exhibition reflects the drastic shifts in the conditions of viewing and audience behavior that necessitate rethinking and reinterpreting genre painting practices, offering visitors a chance to approach a system of conventions from a non-conventional perspective.
Curator: Edward Kovács