“What is art for, what can it do, what’s the point of it all?” This was the opening sentence of the exhibition text written by Scott Indrisek for Szabolcs Bozó’s first solo exhibition at Semiose Gallery in June 2020 during the COVID pandemic, entitled Big Bang. Six years later, in a world beset by turmoil and war and besieged by social media, disinformation and the omnipresence of AI, the Hungarian-British artist based in London is back at the gallery with a completely new body of work, which once again feels like “an antidote to this daily thrum of anxiety” (Indrisek).

Since his last show, Szabolcs Bozó has continued to fashion his own universe, populated by the descendants of a long heritage of Hungarian animation, which has evolved from traditional folklore into a complex, psychologically driven iconography. Working primarily with paper and pen, he treats his drawings as mental notes—a visual journal reflecting on the state of the world around him. With humanity at what increasingly seems to be a historic juncture, his imagery has become more pertinent than ever. Yet, almost downplaying the gravity and context of his new works, he states, “I wouldn’t exactly describe them as an attempt to escape reality; living in a big city, one is constantly aware of it. However, whenever I get the chance, I try to paint things that look hopeful rather than depressing.”

Fables constitute a significant part of storytelling across the world—from the Panchatantra animal tales of India to the African oral tradition of trickster figures—and Szabolcs Bozó’s native Hungary has a particularly rich pictorial narrative tradition. Closely connected to folklore, these tales offer lessons about survival and shrewdness, sometimes serving as social commentary and, in particular, reflecting the socio-political dynamics of the 20th century. In a similar way, Szabolcs Bozó uses these allegories to reflect on life, but unlike traditional fables that are structured and ordered, his paintings are “noisy,” full of quirky gestural elements and often convey a sense of movement. They mirror the colorful, frantic, and often absurd side of the human subconscious—the messy, unscripted experience of being alive.