The "Delft Blue" pattern was developed in the Netherlands in the 17th century to replace the increased demand for Chinese porcelain with domestic products. In the early stages of production, the "chinoiserie" style of painting blue patterns on a white background was typical. While the original Chinese porcelain bore generic scenes such as people in everyday situations that reflected their way of life and environment, in the Netherlands, the Chinese system of motifs was replaced by representations of local customs and traditions such as farm work, boats, windmills, skating and life in the colonies, which we can now look at with a critical eye. Delft became the centre of this style, which has since been referred to as "Delft Blue".The Budapest Blue series of exhibitions is – after Delft Blue – the Budapest and specifically Hungarian version of Ágnes Szabó Eszter. Her own private mythological collection is a projection of her personal experiences and milestones - embroidered or painted in blue, sometimes red - on the border between reality and fiction. In her work, Szabo seeks to follow the tradition of the Delft Blue porcelain genre by depicting current events from which the artist cannot escape within the framework of contemporary urban and national life. Events and situations, both foreign and domestic, that enter everyday life in one way or another as contemporary images of modernity prompt us to self-reflect, be it the refugee crisis, gender issues, the state of education, protests, evictions, food distribution, economic or social issues. How can we reconcile our traditions with the scale of change we are experiencing every day? How can we live with the relics of the past in our changed way of life?
Eszter Ágnes Szabo: "Budapest Blue 3._Arakhné" - Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von: evakahanfoundation