Ilona Keserü: ALL

This retrospective solo exhibition showcases works from throughout Ilona Keserü's career, spanning nearly seven decades. In the face of political and cultural adversity, the artist's organic style of abstraction developed in defiance of Soviet rule following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Her distinctive approach combines modern abstraction with references to Hungarian folk culture and historic European imagery. Her use of colour, materials and soft forms draw comparison with artists such as Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois and Judy Chicago. Keserü’s strong engagement with colour remains at the core of her practice today, exploring the optical effects of combining specific pigments with one another. Her characteristic use of curved shapes, echoing the heart-shaped tombstones found in the cemetery of the small village of Balatonudvari which Keserü encountered in 1967, is now accompanied by gestural, erratic brushstrokes and abstract swathes of paint.