On the walls of Printa edition, one of the densest and most personal materials of the artist Tibor Horváth takes center stage. The exhibition titled Back to the Feature is a kind of personal archive of the cultural and social critical reflections of the past decade. A selection of several hundred drawings, each framed – where the frames are not just aesthetic accessories, but active carriers of meaning.
Tibor Horváth's artistic career has been defined from the very beginning by a critical attitude and the pushing of formal boundaries. He also experimented continuously during his years studying intermedia at the University of Fine Arts: his works often took shape in provocative gestures, whether it was installations, video work or his 13-second graduation work, which was nominated for a Guinness World Record. This spirit – the reinterpretation of conventions, irony and autonomous artistic freedom – has accompanied his creative practice ever since.
Leaving the domestic institutional environment, he became increasingly preoccupied with social and political issues, until he moved to Berlin in 2013. The change of environment marked a turning point for him: the previous strong social criticism was replaced by contemplation and the emphasis on everyday experiences. “I arrived in a colorful city where everything was possible. As a result, some people became lazy, but this energy was still good. My search for my way here and the freedom brought out in me that I started drawing again,” he recalls. This is how his fine art project, the adseries Instagram page, began, which Tibor describes as a “permanent exhibition space without a curator.” “Actually, this platform became my artistic medium: I didn’t participate in exhibitions, but without a curator and a concept, I could create what I wanted,” he details. The drawings shared in the online space were originally created as part of a creative activity that broke the daily routine. The simplified, condensed forms are not consciously planned reflections: "I observed the life going on around me, and then as my thoughts piled up on top of each other, like a condensation, they took shape," he describes his creative process.
These foundations were later used to build the adframed Instagram page, which now gave the drawings space not only in the digital but also in the physical space: the works were placed in individually selected, frequently found or newly purchased frames. The frames raised the meaning of the drawings to a new level, creating a close dialogue between the image and its environment. “Stepping out of their usual, schematic aesthetic role, the individual frames provide focus, interpretation, or even space for even more thoughts,” says Tibor. The story of adframed was started by a spontaneous gesture: in connection with a gift drawing made for a friend’s child, the realization arose that the meeting of the drawing and the frame can become a carrier of independent meaning. Since then, Tibor has consciously searched for the frames that best fit the given works at flea markets, junk clearances, or even design stores.
Back to the Feature is thus a kind of recontextualization – a focus on a series floating in time and space, creating a dialogue through the tools of everyday observation, humor, irony and empathetic criticism. As Tibor notes: “When we move away from a familiar perspective, the phenomena around us are put into a new light – my works do not necessarily question them, but represent a view from a different perspective.”
Tibor Horváth's Back to the Feature exhibition can be visited until May 23 in the Printa edition gallery space.
If any of the works have piqued your interest, details about the artworks and serigraphs can be found at this link.
Text: Réka Vicar