Sifang Art Museum is honoured to present London-based Hungarian artist Szabolcs Bozó’s solo exhibition Balaton in the museum’s satellite space on Tongren Road, Shanghai. The exhibition will open on February 26th, 2022, and will be on view until April 10th, 2022.
Balaton is the inaugural project of the collaboration between Sifang Art Museum and M WOODS. Both institutions are dedicated to bringing ground-breaking and era-defining contemporary artists into the public eyes. Bozó, an iconic central European artist of his generation, will present his major institutional solo in M WOODS later this year.
Szabolcs Bozó (b. 1992 in Pécs, Hungary) depicts a fantastical world of innocence and spontaneity. He paints the dwellers of such a world, clear-eyed yet sharp-fanged cartoon animals, with bright colors and rhythmic strokes of Gesturalism.
Lake Balaton, known as the “Hungarian Sea”, is the biggest freshwater lake in central Europe. The lake’s famous mineral springs, forests, and birds make it the region’s foremost tourist attraction. To Bozó, the name “Shanghai” (above the sea) recalls childhood summer swimming on Lake Balaton with his family. Amid a global pandemic when travelling has become increasingly restricted, Bozó’s eight latest paintings will arrive in Shanghai in lieu of himself. The nine-tailed foxes, chick, and blackbird will bring a sliver of Lake Balaton into the Lianhua Apartment on Tongren Road.
Just as Shanghai Animation Film Studio has shaped generations of Chinese people’s childhood memories, traditional Hungarian animation has influenced Bozó and his paintings. He combines cartoonist impression and realistic sensibility to create his nostalgic, humorous, and endearing fantasy creatures. In his dreamlike urban wetland, Bozó hopes to share the laughter and comfort of his childhood nostalgia with people in Shanghai.
Balaton is produced by Sifang Art Museum. Special thanks to the artist and Carl Kostyál (London, Stockholm).
