Ten Squatting Young Painters Ákos Birkás

Ákos Birkás was one of the defining Hungarian artists of the generation who began their careers in the 1970s. This work was inspired by the refugee crisis: the picture space is filled with vulnerable young men squatting on the ground. The title of the work ironically suggests that these people, searching for a new home, might just happen to be artists. Written inscriptions can be read on the picture, which in this case recalls the imagery of press photos. The texts are quotes from philosophical writings and social criticism that Birkás read with interest, and the artist creates a strange tension between the words and the image. Like other pieces from the same period, this painting is among Birkás’s works dealing with the contradictions of modern society, and here his main focus is on the global phenomenon of migration.

Mónika Kumin