Kopin Katalin (szerk.): Test objektív. A test reprezentációja a kortárs művészetben - Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai, C. sorozat: Katalógusok 5. (Szentendre, 2013)
Ágnes Verebics uses her own body as a model in the first place. Her self-portraits are the farthest from the idealised body image. In her pictures showing details or full figures, she does not spare her own body: she creases, tortures it and makes it grimace. She draws our attention to the otherwise hidden, least attractive details, skin pores, red gingiva, roots of hair, cuts and wrinkles on the surface of the skin, as if she created a relentlessly sincere negative body image, as opposed to the ideal suggested by consumer culture. The abandonment of traditional female roles is reflected not only in her paintings, but also in the 2009 Box Project, which she created with Ákos Bánki at the Art Factory. The documented boxing match between the two artists, a fight between man and woman, was later presented to the public as a video installation. Although the action can be interpreted in several ways, its most striking element is the reference to inner tensions related to social and gender roles. The models depicted in her portraits of men are passive and defenceless in an unmarked space. The figure in the picture entitled Victim is suffering from physical injury: his broken, plastered arm makes him defenceless and helpless. In the painting entitled Timeless Extasy, the male figure with dilated pupils is looking into the distance. He is a drifting figure who has lost contact with reality. The statuesque male portrait in front of the white background and the accidentally trickling paint are in exciting contrast, giving free vent to chance. Her photowork entitled Bodyplan is a mosaic picture consisting of body fragments, illustrating “the drama of a human figure threatened by sexuality and violence.”1 However, open and direct violence are not present in her photos, are only suggested by a bird’s eye view of mounted, transparent frames. 1 Organs & Exstasy. Central Slovakian Gallery, Besztercebánya, kiállítási katalógus, 2012, p. 27.
