I paint what I d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ want to see - Ádám Dóra

Adám Dóra’s painting focuses on the representation of banal yet familiar—everyday—objects that inevitably surround our lives. The title I paint what I d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ want to see refers to the famous phrase by artist Philip Guston, who broke away from abstract expressionism and its solemnity to return to a figuration that reflected his tangible world, thus dignifying the representation of the ordinary object.

Dóra follows Guston’s thread, but in his case the objects incorporated into his works are not only tangible but also mediated: fast food, headphones, or gym weights are consumed (in every sense) daily through social media and advertising, and they constitute a cartography of contemporary life. This, however, is not a critique of consumer society but rather a representation. In line with this, Dóra uses the physicality of painting in representing these objects on canvas as a form of “slow time,” both in creation and in contemplation, reversing their value and appealing to the analog as an act of resistance.

The exhibition also operates under the concept of Side Effect, which refers to the pictorial process itself. The oval shapes that recur in Dóra’s work—headphones, weights, and sauce containers—evoke the form of a pill. Like a medicine, which combines desired effects with unforeseen consequences, Dóra plans a result, but deviations and unexpected accidents appear, which end up becoming part of the work itself. Thus, through a palette and motifs that draw from the legacy of Pop Art, the artist elevates the everyday object and invites us to reconsider its meaning.