Monochrome works from the Antal-Lusztig Collection

The new exhibition of the Antal-Lusztig Collection, one of the most important private art collections in Hungary, will present hundreds of monochrome works from Hungary and abroad in MODEM, opening on 10 February 2024.

MODEM's latest exhibition, The Image of Colour, The Mystery of the Image, presents a comprehensive selection of monochrome paintings from the Antal Lusztig Collection, one of the most important private collections in Hungary. The owner of a collection of several hundred domestic and international works, Dr. Péter Antal began acquiring monochrome paintings in the mid-2000s, and since then they have formed an important part of his collection. In recent decades, a selection of monochrome works has been shown in numerous exhibitions in Hungary and abroad. One of the significance of these exhibitions is that, thanks to this exceptional collector's commitment, the spirit and legacy of monochrome painting not only lives on in individual works of art, along the lines of consistent artistic endeavours, but also occasionally emerges in the public discourse on the occasion of exhibitions of selected works from the Antal Lusztig Collection.

This time, a selection from the monochrome segment of the Antal Lusztig collection is organized in 7+1 separate units to guide the visitor through the exhibition. Through the research of monochrome painters, it leads us through concepts of painting that are thought to be obvious, such as the gesture, the space of the image, the boundary of the image or the layers of the image. However, the works of national and international artists, grouped in sections, not only clarify the general ideas about these concepts, but also bring us closer to the mystery of painting, which, after the liberation of the matrix of paint, has led to the creation of a type of portrait that represents the image of colour.

Among the exhibitors are works by international artists such as Marcia Hafif, Joseph Marioni, Jerry Zeniuk, Phil Sims, Günter Umberg, Alan Charlton, Hartwig Kompa, Imi Knoebel, Dirk Rathke, Kuno Gonschior, Jakob Gästeiger, Jason Martin and many others. Also, and by no means exhaustively, the Hungarian artists include Zoltán Tölg-Molnár, András Bernát, András Gál, Zsigmond Károlyi and, among the students of the legendary "monochrome painting class" of the past, Gabi Varga, Gábor Erdélyi and Dezső Szabó.

Curator: Mónika Zsikla

Opening programme:

Date: 10 February 2024 at 17:00.

Welcome speeches by Dr. István Puskás, Deputy Mayor of Debrecen, responsible for cultural affairs, and Kata Vizi, Executive Director of MODEM The exhibition will be opened by István Hajdu, art critic and editor After the speeches, a guided tour will be given by Mónika Zsikla Zsikla, curator of the exhibition.