2018 | MODEM, Debrecen
“The work of Ádám Albert (…) is made from gleaming, grandiose blue trapezoid sheet metal. Depending on the side from which you approach it, it is different every time: coming in from that side, you slowly start guessing what is hidden behind it. The image of a firearm seems to appear on the wall, only to be revealed fully once you crawl behind the sheet metal, slightly curled up, facing it upfront. (…) After stepping in and eyeballing the pistol in the large black and white photo, you will instantly realise that it is a meticulously crafted, lifelike gun. The pistol, made of wood, wires and a shoelace, might also be functional; however, the picture reveals it is nothing more than a simple plaything. The photo is from the artist’s own archive. The elder wood gun displayed was made by the artist, together with his father, during his childhood. (…) Albert’s enigmatic construction functions as a metaphoric mental space, and so the beholder’s impressions, invoked by the physical presence, are of the utmost importance here. The different elements condensed in the work call to mind various stories, and through them the viewer may recall their own personal experiences and meanings from the cluster of memories and cultural signs. In this work (…) elements strictly linked to recollection – be they historical events or memories from a private archive – are combined and grounded in a common knowledge. This composition, presented as a critique of global social and ideological processes, reminds us of the blurred boundaries between reality and illusion by juxtaposing the cultural symbols of play and terror.” (LÉPOLD, Zsanett | 2019)
