In her work, Tímea Piróth explores the concept of rejection and creates in a variety of media. In her recent projects she has been testing the possibilities of an expanded use of the tattoo technique. She is most interested in the idea of the liminal and the ways of representation outside of galleries and art institutions.

The artist’s first solo presentation at the Center for Contemporary Arts is the result of her residency in Celje. She is presenting a completely new production, created especially for the Račka Gallery. In designing the works, she drew on the former purpose of the space and reflected on archetypal gender roles and sexuality by reframing the stereotypes associated with peep show culture. Placing a central focus on the female body and using a dynamic spatial layout that also includes the viewer’s body, she speaks about the ways in which the body is disciplined and how female sexuality is restricted through religion and patriarchy. In the piece Flesh (2022 – 2023), we are presented with a set of randomly arranged drawings tattooed on a silicone substrate that resembles skin. Under the impression of reading Foucault’s History of Sexuality the artist, in a purely associative manner, without any rational reflection, successively drew images on a surface, from grotesque depictions of unknown faces to Christian symbols and motifs of witchcraft trials, all of which testify to a violent attempt at the domination of the body. The work gives the impression of fleshiness and is placed in the space as a hanging installation, thus allowing the artist to further emphasise the issue of possession and objectification of the female body. In the piece Cafat (2024), which is the Hungarian term for flesh, she also questions the attempts to dominate the female body. Again, she uses silicone and the art of tattooing, then cuts it up and arranges it across a seating area, while inviting the viewer to sit in it. The piece possesses a raw and somewhat unsettling quality characteristic of Piróth’s oeuvre, often incorporating elements of the grotesque, the visceral, or even the repulsive, to underscore the gritty facets of social reality. Untitled (2024) a series of embroideries featuring pornographic images, is about transcending the constrained role of women as mere housewives, confined only to the home and deprived of sexual freedom. In the steel signs entitled Daddy Issues (2024) and Please Them (2024) placed around the space, she directs focus to the efforts aimed at stigmatizing the liberation from conventional gender norms. The installation culminates with the artist’s older video Bugyrok (2019) wherein the simultaneous depiction of the butchering of animal flesh and scenes of the natural environment evokes a unique atmosphere of profound unease and confinement.

With her exhibition Under Construction, at a time when calls for the retraditionalisation of society are increasingly visible in the social space, Tímea Piróth draws attention to the relevance of past forms of control over sexuality.

Tímea Piróth (1991) is a visual artist, who lives and works in Budapest. She graduated in 2015 from the painting department of Hungarian University of Fine Arts. She has participated in many solo and group exhibitions and has participated in numerous residencies around the world such as Air Celeia in Celje (Slovenia), Artbasis in Gyumri (Armenia) and Piar residency in Kumasi (Ghana).