This exhibition explores the idea of personal space and the different ways it can be understood or experienced. Personal space is not simply the physical distance between people, it can also be psychological, emotional or private.
Some of the paintings are drawn from spaces, places, and objects within my own environment, while others began with sourced images that I alter and reimagine. In this way, the paintings become a kind of personal, constructed reality like a story in which I create the narrative, shifting and reshaping what is familiar into something less certain.
Other works are loosely informed by the studios and working environments of historical artists. Although the starting points vary, each work offers an interpretation of personal space: the spaces we inhabit, the spaces in which we create, and the boundaries we establish around ourselves.
These spaces we create can provide protection, comfort, and a sense of belonging, but they can also become spaces of isolation. What feels intimate or reassuring to one person may feel intrusive, restrictive, or unfamiliar to another. Personal space is therefore subjective and can change.
I believe a painting should ask something of the viewer. I am drawn to ambiguity and to leaving things open to interpretation. If everything within an artwork is explained or described, there is little room for the viewer to bring their own imagination, memories and experiences. I want the paintings to leave space for that participation, to suggest rather than define and to allow each viewer to construct their own narrative as well.
John Bokor 2026
