The exhibition presents a subjective selection by the staff of Apollo Gallery, featuring artists who have, in various ways, already been connected to the gallery’s programme in recent times. The works on view appear in the space as part of a more personal, internal selection: an constellation of works that speak, through different artistic languages, forms and materials, yet with a shared sensitivity, about the deeper layers of human existence.
At the centre of the exhibition is not a single theme, narrative or formal direction, but rather a shared position: sincere attention. Attention to inner experiences that are often difficult to articulate, yet fundamentally shape the way we are present in the world. Vulnerability, the body, memory, loss, desire, inner tension and quiet resistance appear in different ways throughout the exhibited works. In some cases, they emerge with expressive force; in others, through more disciplined, restrained forms. At times they appear as figurative presence, elsewhere as gesture, material, surface or atmosphere.
The exhibited works ask for a slower, more attentive mode of reception and open up questions: what can a face, a body, a gesture, a colour, a surface or a fracture reveal about a person’s inner state? How can a work be both personal and universal? Where does the point begin at which an image becomes a presence
For Apollo Gallery, contemporary art becomes truly significant beyond formal categories and market considerations when it is capable of creating genuine connection between viewer and artist, or at the very least between one human being and another. We seek out and present works in which a human stake can be felt: thought, doubt, fragility, depth, and the courage of personal statement. In this sense, the exhibition is also an act of self-definition. It reveals the values through which we think about the gallery’s operation, our relationship with artists, and the way we address our audience.
This exhibition is a personal selection built from the encounters, exhibitions and artistic connections of the recent period. The works on view are arranged around a shared sensitivity, and explore the question of how art today can speak honestly, with complexity and humanity, about what takes place within us.
The title – Staying close – refers to this position of attention. Staying close to the works, to the artists, to the viewer, and to those human experiences that often become meaningful precisely through their fragility. The exhibition brings together works that offer points of entry: spaces of looking, sensing, remembering and empathy.
Text: Nikolett Colette Nagy
Exhibition selected by: Nóra Élő, Eszter Hannya, Judit Király, Boglárka Kmety, Krisztina Kovács, Nikolett Colette Nagy, Csilla Szimon and Tatjána Tóth
Exhibiting artists: József Baksai, Edit Cservenka, Márton Gresa, Tiarna Herczeg, Dániel Kristófy, Laura Medcalf, Anna Nemes, Júlia Néma, Bálint Sándor Palágyi, Anita Papp, Botond Részegh.
