Benes József Babel

He has had dozens of solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe, has received numerous professional awards and his works are in private  as well as in public collections at home and abroad.

The prints by József Benes now on display in the Magtár Gallery are from the posthumously published volume Pastoral by János Sziveri in Zenta and were exhibited in connection with the Sziveri Prize award ceremony.

"These images are not meant to please, instead of relaxing they want to put us on the ventilator of reality. And the connection between creator and receiver is instantaneous, since it is the nature of good works to affect our emotions and thoughts. Our task with them is first and foremost not to retreat, because by covering our eyes we have only shut out one of our senses from perceiving reality. It is worth disarming the expectation that art should be beautiful when life is full of horrors. Can art not draw from life and is art not just as much a part of life? Why then should we expect the latter to give us some illusion? If we do not close ourselves off from the works shown here, but rather we shut ourselves up with them, attaching ourselves to that ventilator, we will discover lightness (the girl soaring over the barbed wire, pushing the boundaries), playfulness (the girl imitating the flight of birds) and irony (the masked, overweight figure connected to the ventilator) in addition to the serious thoughts perceived at first glance..." Krisztina Szarka Mándity

The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Sziveri Institute.