Lajos Csertő: Space Age Plastics
The first solo exhibition of sculptor, ceramicist and glass artist Lajos Csertő at the acb presents a special selection of sculptures by the versatile artist. The physical presence of Csertő's works in acb's Attachment space blends the spirit of the space age with the aesthetics of late modernity, mostly embodied in organic abstract forms.
Schedule
Csertő's unique fired ceramic sculptures seem to evoke creatures from the deep sea, or even extraterrestrial. acb invites all to rediscover the biomorphic forms inspired by the work of Lajos Csertő.
Born in Kecskemét, Lajos Csertő worked at the Dunai Ironworks after graduating from the Dunaújváros Mechanical Engineering School and set up his workshop in Dunaújváros in the 1970s. In Kecskemét in 1978, perhaps the largest open-air exhibition of his works was held, but he was also a scholarship holder of the Kecskemét Ceramics Studio on several occasions, and his interest in engineering led him to build a ceramic kiln for the Studio in Kecskemét and to work for the city's Enamel Cobbler Company. His unconstrained interest led him to create large glass sculptures as early as the 1970s, and he also worked and created at the Orosháza Glass Factory. In 1971, he met István Gádor, a legendary figure in Hungarian ceramics, who had a great influence on the development of his later career, as he was the one who introduced him to the work of artists such as Henry Moore, Hans Arp and Constantin Brancusi. His last major exhibition, in 2015, was a selection of works from his studio at the Kunsthalle.
acb Gallery
Founded in Budapest in 2003, acb Gallery has consistently grown in the past two decades establishing itself as one of the leading actors in the Hungarian and Eastern European art market. Initially, the gallery’s focus was on Hungarian and international emerging and mid-generation neo-conceptual artists, who became active after the political changes in the former Eastern Bloc in 1990. Since then, the gallery has expanded its focus, and now represents numerous Hungarian neo-avant-garde artists who have left their mark on art history since the 1960s and 1970s, as well as members of the youngest generations beside the already established ones. Since the autumn of 2022, acb runs three exhibition spaces: the main gallery space, acb Attachment, which serves as a project space, and acb Plus, dedicated to large-scale solo and group presentations. acb’s research and publishing department, acb ResearchLab was founded in 2015. This platform within the gallery aims to fill the gaps in the reception and publication of Hungarian neo-avant-garde and post-avant-garde oeuvres by studying bodies of works and art phenomena previously treated as peripheral. The gallery holds significant importance within the global art market, actively promoting its artists nationally as well as internationally and engaging in art fairs, such as the Art Basel in Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach, the Frieze Masters London or the ARCO Madrid.