Zsóka Szalma exhibition opened at Grand Café Szeged

NewsCulture

Dec 4

Painter and tattoo artist Zsóka Szalma opened her second solo exhibition at Grand Café on Tuesday, Dec. 2, unveiling a new body of work created over the past two years. The exhibition, titled Maradék menedék (Remaining Shelter), brings together abstract encaustic pieces that examine themes of transition, instability, and the search for personal refuge.

Szalma, who graduated from the University of Pécs Faculty of Music and Visual Arts, lives and works in Szeged. She is a founding member and currently the president of the Streamlet Art Association in Magyarkanizsa. Her latest works continue her long engagement with encaustic painting — a beeswax-based technique dating back to antiquity — which allows for layered textures, durable surfaces, and saturated colors.

Most of the works on display were created on reclaimed wooden panels and furniture boards, materials Szalma selected for their physical weight and rustic surface qualities. Her compositions pair vigorous, sometimes chaotic gestures with pockets of calm, often expressed through softened color fields, pared-down forms, or a recurring motif of a dissolved house.

These aspects of the exhibition were highlighted in painter Csenge Krajcsó’s opening remarks, in which she described encaustic as the medium in which Szalma has “truly found her voice” and noted the balance between disorder and harmony that shapes much of the artist’s recent work. Krajcsó also pointed to the dissolved house motif as a stabilizing element within otherwise dynamic compositions.

Maradék menedék (Remaining Shelter) remains on view through Sunday, Jan. 11, during Grand Café’s opening hours. As part of the finissage on Saturday, Jan. 10, Szalma will lead a gallery tour before performances by the bands Eugene Tooms and Shapat Terror. All visitors are welcome.

More about the artist on her website.