Play Dead, Look Alive
new watercolour drawings by Balint Zsako
until March 20.
KMLA at AUTOMAT
936 Chung King Road
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Wed-Sat, 12-6pm
info@katharinemulherin.com
With these paintings Balint Zsako wants to distil as many disparate aspects of contemporary art into works on paper as possible. Everything from the physical theatre of Performance Art, the process-based nature of Land Art, to the meticulous balance of Geometric Abstraction is referenced. But just as importantly, sex, mythology, bodily functions and primitive narratives are the themes that animate these works. Physical distortions serve as parallels to psychological states and mechanical appendages recall the conflict between the organic and the industrial. These open-ended stories, which are most often dark and complex, are rendered in lively bright colours and meticulous detail to add another layer of contrast between the visual, the narrative and the conceptual.
Balint Zsako was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979 and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1988. Since graduating with a B.A in Fine Arts from Ryerson University in Toronto, he has exhibited his photographs, collages, sculptures, paintings and drawings internationally.
The New Yorker Magazine, Harper's Magazine, The Walrus Magazine, Poetry Magazine and the New York Times Magazine have all featured his works. A travelling exhibition of his drawings was organized by the MoCCA in Toronto and is accompanied by the artist's first monograph.
With these paintings Balint Zsako wants to distil as many disparate aspects of contemporary art into works on paper as possible. Everything from the physical theatre of Performance Art, the process-based nature of Land Art, to the meticulous balance of Geometric Abstraction is referenced. But just as importantly, sex, mythology, bodily functions and primitive narratives are the themes that animate these works. Physical distortions serve as parallels to psychological states and mechanical appendages recall the conflict between the organic and the industrial. These open-ended stories, which are most often dark and complex, are rendered in lively bright colours and meticulous detail to add another layer of contrast between the visual, the narrative and the conceptual.
Balint Zsako was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979 and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1988. Since graduating with a B.A in Fine Arts from Ryerson University in Toronto, he has exhibited his photographs, collages, sculptures, paintings and drawings internationally.
The New Yorker Magazine, Harper's Magazine, The Walrus Magazine, Poetry Magazine and the New York Times Magazine have all featured his works. A travelling exhibition of his drawings was organized by the MoCCA in Toronto and is accompanied by the artist's first monograph.
