Károly Keserü , Untitled (1604074), Acrylic & thread on linen, 100 x 90 cm, 2016. Added to the Collection as the 2nd Keserü in 2017. The first piece acquired was a large scale drawing, this however is one of his rather rare grand scale paintings on linen.
Károly Keserü: Untitled 1604074 (2016)
Since I have discussed some initial impressions of his works in my earlier blog, I admit that I still do work on my own understanding of Minimalism and how Karoly is opening up new ideas on this field. He mentioned in an interview that he sees certain very productive episodes in art history and is convinced that you also can go back in time and rediscuss some of the ideas and use also techniques to evolve. Some words from Patrick Heides Contemporary Art website, which is his London based gallery.
“In his search for a balance between the physical and metaphysical, between system and chance, Károly Keserü (b. 1962, Budapest, HU) draws inspiration from Eastern and Western philosophy, folk art, as well as music. His paintings and drawings explore and playfully question the legacy of Modernism and Post-Modernism in the digital age, in a creative practice that is both experimental and transformative.
Minute dots turn into coloured swarms breaking free from an imperceptible grid, while nearly invisible lines run across the sheets of paper, like rivers seen from a bird’s eye perspective. With a surprising economy of means, lines and circles, as well as a refined palette, Keserü has developed a unique and intensely rich visual vocabulary through which the very nature of our being is laid bare. Line after line, dot next to dot, Keserü carefully creates his images, combining repetitive patterns with forms built by chance, in a constant dialogue between structure and freedom. Repetition can often be seen as limiting, yet it can also function as a catalyst for change, for transformation and rebirth: in Keserü’s works no dot is identical to the next, and the lines are drawn freehand, allowing for cracks to emerge, for light to shine through the layers of ink. It is in this twilight zone where we can finally see what we often unknowingly feel – the infinite and subtle variations taking place under the surface of our fixed habits and recurring thoughts.
Keserü’s compositions often appear as ethereal, mathematically precise images that challenge their own materiality. Nevertheless, the painstaking and labour-intensive drawing process deeply roots these works in a physical realm. In this process, abstraction is, quite literally, pinpointed down, and the paper or backing fabric both guide and set the artist’s hand free. Ultimately, it is through this interplay of repetitive structures and accidental forms, of visual silence and sound, that the fabric of life is quietly woven for us to see and hear.
Károly Keserü was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1962. The exhibition takes its title from the artist’s last name, Keserü, meaning bitter in Hungarian. Although this particular taste is completely unrelated to the body of works exhibited, it does have a link with the artist’s biography, since he used the name Karl Bitter as his alterego in the past. Keserü’s has widely exhibited in London, Australia and Hungary since 1993. His work is part of important public collections in the UK, Germany and the USA and private collections throughout Europe, USA and Australia.
Ines Gutierrez for Patrick Heide Contemporary Art“
Károly Keserü: Untitled 1604074 (2016) in Patrick Heides Gallery during the show Bitter
CV
Karóly Keserü
Born 1962 Budapest, Hungary
Education
2002/04 Associate Student, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London
2000/01 MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London
1997/99 BA Fine Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
1995/96 Diploma in Visual Art, Swinburne University, Melbourne
Solo Exhibitions
2016 keserüsó (XX Century in Fragments) – Várfok Gallery, Budapest
bitter – Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
2014 Károly Keserü and Brigitte Stahl, Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
zen(e) (with Tamás Jovánovics), Gallery Várfok, Budapest, Hungary
Stork – Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart
2013 noha, B55 Contemporary Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
CON-TEXT-WORX, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
2011 magnificent coincidence, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
Two artists from London, (with Tamás Jovánovics), B55 Contemporary Art Gallery, Budapest
2010 Tiger, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
2009 mikrokozmosz, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
& Hungarian Cultural Centre, Covent Garden, London
2007 (untitled) New Paintings & Works on Paper, patrick heide art projects, London
2005 scope London, St Martins Lane Hotel, London with patrick heide art projects
2004 Exploring the Grid, (with Isabel Albrecht) patrick heide art projects, London
2000 Folkmodern II, John Buckley Fine Art, Melbourne
1999 Folkmodern, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
Apróságok, Mü – Terem Galéria, Debrecen, HU
1998 Paintings, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
Made (with Martin Gill), VCA Gallery, Melbourne
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 Receptors: a multi-sensory intervention by Hilda Kozári in the Antal-Lusztig Collection, MODEM, HU
Autism as metaphor, Szent Istvan Kiraly Museum, Székesfehérvár, HU
Walk the Distance and Slow Down: selections from the collection of JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey, BMoCA, Boulder, CO, USA
Word Dance, Denver Art Museum, USA
2016 Paperclip – Museum of Modern Art (MODEM), Debrecen
Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City
Die Kunst ist Zurück – Hamburger Kunsthalle. Hamburg
Re-Planning (Selection from the Antal-Lusztig Collection) – Museum of Modern Art (MODEM), Debrecen
Volta12 Basel, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Amsterdam
Biennale of the Kunstverein Essling, Essling
Art Bodensee, Galerie Michael Sturm, Dornbirn
TEFAF Maastricht, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Maastricht
Art Karlsruhe Art Fair, Várfok Gallery
2015 Várfok 25th Anniversary Exhibition – Várfok Gallery, Budapest
Paperwork – Galerie Martin Mertens, Berlin
Art Market Budapest with Várfok Gallery, Budapest
artBO, International Art Fair of Bogotá, Galerie Michael Sturm, Bogotá
Amsterdam Drawing, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Amsterdam
Interpretations of Ornament in Fine Arts Today 1990-2015, Gallery Várfok, Budapest
Here and Now – Fine Arts, National Salon, Budapest
Hungary – The next Generation, Artmark Galerie, Vienna
GRIDS # 2, Galerie van den Berge, Goes, Netherlands (with Frank Badur, Emma Langridge, Axel Reusch, Ditty Ketting)
Oeuvres, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam (with Jill Baroff, Tom Benson, Susan Collis, David Connearn, Katie Paterson, Ignacio Uriarte)
2014 Corner, Gallery Várfok, Budapest
Space as space, Vasarely Múzeum, Budapest
Freehand, MODEM (Museum of Modern Art Debrecen)
2013 walking the line V, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Köln
Art Market Budapest, Gallery Várfok
Párbeszéd / Conversation (Antal-Lusztig collection) Kepes Institution, Eger
2012 Concrete – Abstract – Color Painting – Street Art, B55 Gallery Budapest
text(ure), Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
walking the line IV, Galerie Martin Kudlek, Köln
Anschlüssel London/Berlin, Centre for Recent Drawing, London
Anschlüssel Berlin/London, Fruehsorge Contemporary Drawings, Berlin
Summer Show, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, UK
Back and Forth – 8 Artists from London, B55 Gallery, Budapest
FutureShock OneTwo, dr.julius I ap., Berlin
2011 Remix 2011-2014 (Selections from the International Collage Center collection), Lewisburg PA, Sedalia MO, Katonah NY, Knoxville TN, Lewiston ME
Summer Group Show, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London
Entre chien et loup, Galerie Vidal-Saint Phalle, Paris
2010 Drawing Attention, pablo’s birthday, New York
2009 Stand in Line, Patrick Heide Contemborary Art, London
2008 microwave, six, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York
2007 Straight forward, pablo’s birthday, New York
Obsession durch Technik, artMbassy, Berlin
Galerie van den Berge, Westwal, NL (with Mirjam Hagoort & Jus Juchtmans)
2006 Summer Exhibition, Foster Art, London
Art Forum Berlin
2005 Mostyn Open Exhibition, Llandudno, Wales, UK
Bologna Flash Art Show, Sofitel Hotel, Bologna, IT
2004 Pizza Express Prospects 2004, Tea Building. London
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Liverpool Biennale and Barbican London
2003 Australian Art in London, Australia House, London
Summer Exhibition 2003, Royal Academy of Arts, London
The Hunting Art Prizes 2003, Royal College of Art, London
Artfutures, Contemporary Art Society, City of London School, London
2002 Summer Exhibition 2002, Royal Academy of Arts, London
New Inventive Works, e1 Gallery, London
(X)hibit, The London Institute Gallery, London
Artfutures, Contemporary Art Society, City of London School, London
2001 Exhibition for the Queen’s Visit, Goodenough College, London
2000 National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Gallery, Melbourne
City of Hobart Art Prize, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
1999 Darebin – La Trobe Art Prize and Exhibition, Centre for Decorative Arts, Melbourne
1998 Poco Noco meets Jacques Derrida, Derrida Prize Exhibition, VCA Gallery, Melbourne
1997 Damp, Clothing Exchange, Grey Area Art Space Inc., Melbourne
1996 Ego, Temple Studio, Melbourne
1995 Annual Group Show, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
1993 Iglu Csoport, RS9 Színház, Budapest
Bibliography
2014 Artmagazin, (Vol. XII. Issue No. 4/68, pages 26-27) ‘Hardcore Abstraction’ József Mélyi, HU
2013 újMűvészet, (Vol. XXIV. Issue No. 7, pages 40-41) ‘Poetics of Dots’ Anica Rudolf, Hungary
Flash Art (Hungary), (Vol. II. Issue No 3/ 9, page 91) ‘Károly Keserü and the Unknown Code’ Zsolt Mészáros, Hungary
2012 Károly Keserü, Papertiger, 2009-2012
Back and Forth – 8 Artists from London, B55 Contemporary Art Gallery, Exhibition Catalogue, (text by Estelle Thompson/ Tamás Jovánovics)
2009 Károly Keserü, London works 2000 – 2009 (introduction by Chris Townsend)
2006 New Art from London, Chris Townsend, Thames & Hudson
Celeste Art Prize Catalogue (shortlisted)
2004 Art Monthly (288), Martin Herbert, Review of Bloomberg New Contemporaries
2000 Samstag 2000 Catalogue, The World is Not Enough (introduction by James Moss)
Interview on National ABC TV (Australia)
HBM Napló, Pontok és Vonalak Különös Szakralitása, HU (introduction by
Peter Héty)
Awards
2004 Pizza Express Prospects 2004, Student Award, London
2000 The Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship (£30,000)
Melbourne, Australia
1999 Julian Counsel Acquisitive Award, Melbourne, Australia
Victorian College of the Arts Student Union Prize, Melbourne, Australia
1998 Victorian Campus Art Prize, Melbourne
Collections
The Progressive Collection, Ohio
Collection of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London
Collection of The London Institute, London
Private Collections throughout Europe, USA & Australia
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany
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