Vanda Huminilowicz - Hand to mouth

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Hand to Mouth

27 November 2024 – 28 February 2025

Vanda Huminilowicz's first solo exhibition at Rechnitzer Gallery.

George Michael's ‘Hand to Mouth’ is a track from his 1987 album ‘Faith’. The themes and messages of the song's lyrics differ in many ways from the other hits on the album, such as the more pop sound of ‘Faith’ or ‘Father Figure’. The lyrics of ‘Hand to Mouth’ explore deeper social issues and offer a sharp critique of the myth of the American Dream.

Vanda Huminilowicz's paintings, ceramics and installations for the exhibition are indirect responses to the social inequalities and problems raised in the aforementioned song. Huminilowicz sees the day-to-day phenomenon - the reference behind the phrase Hand to Mouth - as a kind of cycle that is present in every aspect of our existence. While the artist herself consciously experiences the social, economic, cultural, philosophical and spiritual difficulties of our present age, her work provides a counterpoint to this reality(s). Huminilowicz’s artworks are infused with personal mythological motifs and characterized by vivid colours and striking visual elements. Despite their wildness, the works proclaim a sense of serenity, bringing a lightness that counteracts the problems and fears inherent in the world of ‘Hand to Mouth’.

“So she ran to the arms of America
And she kissed the powers that be
And someone told me (someone told me)
That the gods believe in nothing
So with empty hands I pray
And I tell myself one day
They just might see me
They just might see me”

George Michael, 1987

The most striking feature of Vanda Huminilowicz's (1978) paintings is that the artist approaches painting not as a possible method of image creation, but as one of the most ancient and instinctual forms of artistic expression. As a result, when discussing Huminilowicz’s paintings, we are not necessarily talking about images in the sense of modernist autonomous imagery. In interpreting these works, the question—which is by no means insignificant—of whether these images depict something, express something, bear witness to something, or perhaps make us aware of something and thus establish a connection with another world, seems to recede into the background.

This points toward the source traditions of archaic or premodern imagery, which modern art itself sought to return to—whether in the aspirations of Fauvism, Cubism, or Suprematism. Therefore, when looking at these paintings, it is not necessarily a priority to classify them as either abstract or figurative, as in Huminilowicz’s work, these two represent merely the two potential endpoints of a single aesthetic program. What is far more significant within this continuum are the transitions, where, for instance, the figurative painting of a figure or object contains just as much abstract, expressive, and thus less representational, but more evocative artistic potential. On certain surfaces, organic or biomorphic abstraction blends with cosmic or even cubist geometry, while on the same plane, the outlines of an ancient vase, unknown plants, primitive symbols, and humanoid faces and figures seem to emerge.

This hybrid approach to painting, however, is extremely distinctive, crafted from a vibrant color palette that almost defies the heavy materiality of oil, articulated through continuous transitions between colors. This is why there are never any sharply defined forms on Huminilowicz’s canvases; everything is in a state of flux, one thing merging into the next. Here, objects do not emerge from clear lines but rather from some sort of astral haze, from the vibrations of cosmic abstract color gradients.

While these paintings often evoke visionary landscapes, the focus is not so much on the kinds of imaginary spaces they conjure. Rather, it is the material and sensory qualities of the works—the visceral gestures of brushstrokes that seem almost tangible on the thick canvas stretched over sturdy frames, the weighty materiality of the oil paint—that gain independent presence and spatiality in relation to these paintings. It is precisely this ambition that extends into the realm of the plastic arts, as seen in Huminilowicz’s expressive ceramic experiments and visionary textile assemblages, which, taken together, represent one of the most instinctive and authentic artistic positions in the landscapes of Hungarian and Eastern European contemporary art.