Nadya Hadun

2012/02/29-2012/03/23

We cordially invite You to the

Exhibition Opening

of

Nadya Hadun

at

 

Ari Kupsus Gallery (Bródy Sándor utca 23/b, Budapest 1088)

on 29th of February, 2012 from 6 pm to 8 pm.

The exhibition will be opened by Eva Sőregi-Vilén, spouse of Ambassador of Finland.

The exhibition will be on view till March 23th, 2012.

Wine sponsored by: Sumegi Keller Kft.

The exhibition opening speech by Éva Sőregi-Vilén:

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends! Warmly welcome to this very special evening.

It is special for me too, because I was asked to open not only an exhibition, if I can put like that, but to open the exhibition of the artist, who I personally admire and of who, if I’m not mistaken, I’m the biggest collector.

There is a special relation between Nadya Hadun and me: when I saw her paintings first, it was a love at first sight for me.

I felt close her world to me so much, that I asked her paintings to be present at one of the most important days of my life, and indeed, her paintings were around us during our wedding.

Why is her art so close to me? I recognize myself in her melancholy. I love her smooth mixture of style. Love the Slavic elements, you can detect time to time. The mysterious expression on the faces. The quietness and sublimity of the figures. I love the most what is not spoken out on the painting, the unspoken elements, the smooth symbols. By the way, about the symbols, have you seen the painting at the entrance with the pregnant woman, who is holding an egg in her hand? A smooth indication to the symbol, what is common at all the nations, the fertility symbol of life, birth, rebirth. Otherwise, yesterday was the Finnish Kalevala day. The Kalevala, the creation mythology of the Finns is starting with a picture of an egg, from what, eventually, the whole World is born from. Well, such a delicate symbol is Nadya working with…

Personally, I am following with a great interest the periods of Nadya’s works. Yes, being so young, she has already periods since she has started to paint. On the paintings I saw first, there were the typical for Nadya female characters, that time with stronger Slavic features, being in contrast with masculine elements, often elements from war. Then Nadya’s female characters have changed, they started to bloom, they had open, sometimes provocative emotions on their face.

By now, on the last series of the paintings, on the pictures around us, there is a completely new topic, there new actors on the paintings: already young and old persons, men and children are facing to us from this special “photo album”.

Nadya gave name Ontology for this exhibition. What is Ontology? It is a serious thing: the ontology is a science about existence, or a philosophical doctrine about existence. This is new from Nadya now. With this semantics these paintings are drawing our attention to our “existence-in-our-world”.

“Everything on Earth is generated, born for a while, and dies. Art is like a shadow, a shadow of everything in the World, makes us think about the fact, how rapidly the time is flowing – said Nadya Hadun, when we were talking about her new paintings. Like the human figures in my pictures were frozen at the moment, waiting somebody to see them, as if they had stopped for a moment, or as if time had stopped. The time is passing, flowing very rapidly, we all have experience about this. But sometimes we have stop for a moment to think. To think why is this hurry for. To consider what is important in our life. These heroes around us are focusing on these spiritual values, memories.

Every family has an old photo album. In this album there are photos about various generations, ancestors of the family, on the photos there is memory of many years, these photos are the testimony of the rapid flow of life, but also the testimony of the fact, that we live forever in the memories of our beloved persons. This retrospective, quoting the past exhibition is aiming questions, concerning the meaning of human existence, the meaning of our life. Entering to this gallery, we might not realize immediately, how deep metaphysical questions is this young and fragile artist asking with her new paintings.

Exactly this play with existence and time is turning up in the triptych type painting outside, with the old woman, looking back to her more and more fading face of her youth.

Another favorite picture of mine is playing also with the symbolism of time. It is called “The February 29th”. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that this exhibition is being opened on 29th of February, that day, which exists only once every four years, only in leap years, giving a special, mystical meaning to the exhibition, but especially to the painting itself. What tradition is connected to this day?

According to an old Irish legend, in the 5th century, St. Bridget went to complain to St Patrick that women have to wait too long to get married, and that they cannot take an active role in choosing their husbands. By the legend, St. Patrick’s let the ladies to propose the man of their dreams once every four years, on the 29thof February. According to the tradition, it was impossible to refuse this request, or if the man refused, he had to pay serious penalty. According to other sources, if the man refused the lady, he had to buy 12 pairs of gloves for her, which supposed to hide the shame, that the lady doesn’t have an engagement ring. However, for the woman, to ensure her success was recommended to wear a red petticoat, ensuring also, that a piece of it was visible for the men she proposes. The female figures in Nadya’s painting – although without red underskirt – are preparing for this proposal…This nice custom otherwise supposed to balance the traditional and classical role of men and women, like the leap day balances our calendar every four year. So all of these hidden meanings are coming up when we start to study one painting.

I should not talk too long, so let me congratulate to Nadya Hadun for this exciting, retrospective exhibition, what is, at the same time, bringing very serious and deep thoughts. On the other hand, I would like to express my thanks to someone, the founder of this gallery, the respectable by all of us Mr. Ari Kupsus, who from the very beginning, since he found his new home in Hungary, supports the talented artists to start their career, like he supports Nadya Hadun.

Thanks for this, Ari, and congratulation for your new collection, Nadya!