György Kungl, Munkácsy Prize-winning ceramicist and sculptor, who died unexpectedly this year, was one of the most unique artists of Hungarian ceramic sculpture in recent decades. The artist, who started in the 1980s and 1990s, at the time of the spread of what was known in painting as the new sensibility, and quickly became known as one of the first practitioners of postmodern figurality, created deep, acerbic artistic reflections on a world that was also changing rapidly at the time – just think of the period of regime change in Hungary.
His works commented on the smiling pettiness of the characters and fans of mass culture with compassion and great formal invention. Among his themes, the recently presented series The Chased Game and The Seven Cardinal Sins, in which he takes a philosophical approach to classical animal tales, occupy a special place. In the words of his most knowledgeable appreciator, Tibor Wehner, his works “appear to us as sad, mournful, lethargic, lock-step-like art documents of a painful contemplation that seems to be perpetuating itself”.
The title of our exhibition is explained by the fact that György Kungl himself started to prepare it in 2022, but his death prevented the work from being completed. Twenty-two ceramic sculptures are on display, including works that have not yet been exhibited.
Miklós Sulyok