In fact, Judit Csanádi’s suggestion was the first time when we were invited to an exhibition as a married couple, so this is our first common show in Hungary together. However life took a different turn, another exhibition of us opened earlier this spring in Germany at the Emil Schumacher Museum.
We were a little bit surprised too, at how well our seemingly separate artistic careers worked together. The spaces and context of the Artus presented us with new challenges, which is why we put together the works to be exhibited here in different ways. In the exhibition we combine oil paintings with works on paper, made with oil sticks in the case of Dia and with charcoal in the case of Csaba.
The common intersections are also different in this exhibition than they were in Germany before. Since 2020, Csaba’s studio work has moved from figurative approaches to abstract painting, where brushstrokes and improvisation play a major role in the paintings.
For a decade, Dia has been committed to depicting the chaotic interiors as a result of collecting and hoarding. However, there is a change in her work too, and it’s most evident in her works on paper: the rustic technique of the oil stick compresses and in fact strongly abstracts the view.
This brings the two painting approaches closer together. While Csaba’s works here are all black and white, Dia’s paintings are intense in colour and that contrast also creates an interesting link. Our works are also linked by their relationship to the medium of photography: Dia collects material for painting from photographs, which she reinterprets in the process of painting, while Csaba’s contrasting charcoal drawings and paintings evoke the atmosphere of black and white photographs in their tone and light.