WORDS ABOUT THE WORKS BY CURATOR SONJA TESZLER / The terrifying experience of sleep paralysis has haunted humankind for centuries – a state akin to lucid dreaming, between being awake and asleep, with physical and cognitive function severely altered, leading to paralysis and hallucinations. Panicked, the person usually feels tight pressure in their chest and a looming, frightful, sinister presence in the room, described as a shadow or dark entity approaching them by many who’ve experienced it.
From the Medieval Period to the present, this mysterious and frightening phenomenon has been surrounded by folkloric, mythological and sci-fi narratives across different cultures, manifested in vampiric, deadly and seductive demons such as in Henry Fuseli’s classical painting “The Nightmare” (1871).
These figures are almost exclusively portrayed as female, reflecting historic notions of the feminine as irrational, deadly and animal. Áron Lőrincz’s hyper-realistic, chilling paintings capture these vengeful, empowered female succubuses and witches in a neon-coloured, contemporary gothic reincarnation as they hang over, peer down and hunch on top of their helpless victims.
Their hybrid bodies are part idealized female form and gender-normative elements, part comically repulsive, animalistic and fluid features, endowed with futuristic supernatural abilities like laser eyes. They resist any pressure to conform to aesthetic or political norms while visibly owning and indulging in every second of their witchy escapades.
WORKS PRESENTED / Series of five pictures from the “Succubus (says good night)” series and three more pictures from the “Portrait of the Witch” series.
All artworks are 100 x 70 cm and made with mixed media on paper.
CREDITS
Artworks / Áron Lőrincz @_lorinczaron_
Text / Sonja Teszler
