Hungarian painter József Csató treats everyday plants and objects as characters in his whimsical landscapes. His colorful, fantastical paintings often feature anthropomorphized plants that dance, smile, and squirm with playful energy. “Humour plays an incredibly important role in my life and thus spills over into my work, sometimes through titles or through laughable figures or forms,” Csató told Floorr Magazine. At Double Q Gallery, a selection of these paintings is on view in “Behind the Curtain, A New Landscape Again.”
The titular painting features a group of organic forms and bulging vases onstage, framed by a curtain as if appearing in a theatrical performance. Csató’s technique enhances the dimensionality of his work: He builds up and scrapes away layers of oil and acrylic, creating collage-like compositions. In Long Minutes of Courtesy(2025), his characters pop against a graphic red, white, and black background, appearing almost as if they were pasted onto its surface.
Living and working in Budapest, Csató graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2006. Since then, he has presented solo exhibitions with Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna, Semiose Gallery in Paris, and PLUS-ONE Projects in Antwerp.
