Art Basel OVR:2020 2020

acb presents a selection of new works of Hungarian artist, key figure of postwar abstract geometry, Imre Bak (b. 1939) from his series entitled Situation. Bak started to create small paper collages in the first weeks of the global pandemic lockdown in March of 2020, right after the exhibition closed in acb Gallery, that had celebrated his 80th birthday with a retrospective show. For these newest, instinctive collages, Bak recycled some of the silkscreen prints of the previous, metaphysically complex, minimalist compositions. He reassembled fragments of the 2019 works into the distorted and deconstructed format of the papercollages, reminiscing a balanced and rationally composed world. Continuing this deconstructive gesture and incorporating the new dynamics into his painting, Bak, at the age of 81 has so far created five bigger canvases with similar compositional inspirations and ideas that deliver the feeling of a disturbance. With this fundamental gesture, but still remaining in the realm of his very sensible and coherent program, Imre Bak reflects on the widespread global phenomenon where solid, previously unchallenged and seemingly harmonic structures crumble and fall apart under the immense pressure of our reality. However, the new works do not mediate fear or despair: they articulate a state of flux and change.   It is highly exceptional that Imre Bak at the age of 81 still chooses an experimental artistic position, which potentially reconfigures his painterly identity rather than evading reality. The visual freshness and playfulness of the new works, be it collages or new large scale paintings, which rose from the experience of the smaller formats, are all demonstrating the uniqueness of the artist, who was never afraid to face change during his career. The new series is also justifying the method of Bak, which makes new structures rise from older ones in his paintings. The braveness and the restless curiosity of Imre Bak manifests itself again in these works, which makes them absolutely special in his rich oeuvre.