i should go from why józsef szurcsik is not originally a political painter to why he is.
why his art is visceral political art. not in the sense that he paints existing politicians ironically, with clown hats on their heads, or even in the sense that he would formulate a specific political message. but in the way his humanity and sadness become a political memento. and the memento becomes cyclical, the rhythm of man's loneliness.
because józsef szurcsik, whatever he paints, always paints loneliness.
he draws, scratches, carves: he dismantles, reconstructs and strips endless loneliness in his works, he creates a metaphysics of loneliness, he lives metaphysical loneliness over and over again.
szurcsik's block men stand in the infinite, facing it. when there are two of them and facing each other they are clinging to each other or they are clambering up into the void, straddling each other, on each other's backs.
in each other's mouths, cyclically, rhythmically.
józsef szurcsik breaks down the labyrinths of social psychology, typifies, captures and rebuilds the hell we created when we were doing something else. hell is just like life: it has a pyramid-like structure and a puppy dog sits on top of it. i.e. it happens while we are waiting for it to arrive
from the psychological bestiary of józsef szurcsik the hell of politics inevitably follows. if corruption has become synonymous with politics. or if not synonymous, then a reality
the present works were born in the never-ending grey zone of regime change, out of its trauma. and have been digesting themselves ever since. works of the trauma of the loneliness of the insidious reality, our present makes them political art in this space. we created them, they remain with us. we digest and nourish them.
as much as it is an inexpressibly uplifting and honouring experience to open an exhibition by józsef szurcsik, it is a lonely and sad burden to describe the essence of the art of a man i hold in high esteem in a single page using the tools of syntax.
if this opening speech were a performance i would publicly tattoo myself with one of the prints by józsef szurcsik from the strugglers series without saying a word. i won't say which one. but i suggest you go to szurcsik's autocratic bestiary and choose a figure from it for your board game.
but don't tell anyone which one you've chosen. it should be a surprise. keep it to yourself.
