Budapest-based artist Botond Keresztesi fuses an unbridled flea-market outlook – where objects from different eras come to circulate in a single physical space – with a romantic fascination for sci-fi visions, technology and art history, with roots in surrealism and metaphysical painting. However, going beyond the strictly artistic domain, Botond’s work speaks to us about how 20th century history has left a lasting impression on his work: his practice has been impacted by Budapest’s political and architectural scenario, which still carries the vestiges of the country’s past connection to the Soviet Union. With his paintings, Botond aims to get closer to a democratic relationship between images by bringing together diverse contexts, textures and materials, and introducing metaphors that defy conventions such as linear time or a unitary conception on the world. Instead, he embraces a multiplicity of perspectives, spanning diversified sources. Humanity then becomes a disembodied presence, an arcane fragment of the artist’s singular blend of living and inanimate matter.