The exhibition “I show you something!” is an invitation for discussion about humans through discovering Júlia Szilágyi’s artistic practise. In her solo exhibition, Júlia Szilágyi presents her latest paintings created during her recent stay in Vienna.

Although the paintings within the exhibition’s two themes may seem different, however, they, starting from and complementing each other, raise questions about the existential and social problems that affect us. On the one hand in her pastel paintings she approaches humans as a part of our society from a critical point of view. By depicting „Found paraphrases” she points to a type of man analysed by José Ortega y Gasset in his book The Revolt of the Masses, the“Mass man”. A type of man who simply exists, but is rootless. Therefore, he has no past and no future, and is drifting through an empty present. On the other hand, in her new project called „reality” she presents a Memento Mori in a gentle way; one that aims to give hope and encouragement, beyond reminding us of death, by pointing out the complexity of reality, to help us to be able to cope with our awareness of death and use it to our advantage.

The paintings are a faithful representation of Júlia Szilágyi’s interests and artistic practice. According to her artist statement, she focuses on the study of human beings and nature. The themes (which she prefers to spice up with colour and sometimes irony) that arise within this are not based on a uniformly structured stylistic system, but she changes it freely as the subject requires. In her art she often refers to art historical antecedents and works with traditional techniques. She paints in a deliberately beautiful way, with the aim of setting a trap for the viewer. And her aim is, to quote Lawrence Durrell: “About Art I always tell myself: while they are watching the firework display, yclept Beauty, you must smuggle the truth into their veins like filter-passing virus!”