Csaba Kis Róka, Selected Works, 2010
Installation view
All works courtesy the artist
Photo credit: Thierry Bal
Young painter Kis Róka Csaba explores the innermost corners of the collective subconscious, delving in the realm of the unexpressed and politically incorrect. Playing with a rich pictorial texture that densely coagulates on his canvases, the artist stages traditional genre scenes imbued by irony, cruelty, abuse and random violence. His oeuvre analyses the effects of trauma, social stigmatisation, and political repression and/or conditioning on the psyche of the individual. The power forces that shape and define common notions such as shame, depravation and contempt are symbolically addressed by his work. Most noticeably when he includes men wearing military uniforms or bureaucrats’ hats. Wise old men (resembling the busts of ancient philosophers, clearly alluding to traditional education and culture) are also often included in his bestiary. The world narrated by the artist confronts us with our inhibitions. It manifests a comprehensive survey/recollection of the most opprobrious human and psychological features.
Kis Róka Csaba reinterprets the lesson of ancient masters such as Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco de Goya, adding to their legacy a new twist of witticism enshrouded in camp, queer politics, Gothicism, comics and youth culture. Arguably his work can be viewed as “touched in the head”. Nevertheless, his emotionally dysfunctional characters (oppressed by a variety of societal clichés and expectations) undoubtedly unveil the dark side of the Self in a somewhat playful way.
