Balogh worked on the second cycle, to which Allegory belongs, over a period of several years. It comprises 20 pictures, whose heteronomous artificiality generates the kind of atmosphere that captivates viewers without drawing them in as participants. Balogh has borrowed the title of this series, The Iron Age, from Ovid’s description in Metamorphoses of the age in human development that is opposed to the Golden Age in paradise. While the artist’s title refers to a creation myth that goes back almost two thousand years, the photographed scenes are rooted in the present day and in contemporary experience. These pictures are about everyday life, but not about banality; they touch an existential nerve.

The large-format photographs are of a technical perfection that shows every detail and every contour. Nothing is hidden, nothing blurred. But instead of leading to revelation, this crystal clear presentation unmasks the limits of human vision, thereby reinforcing the fictional character of every picture and the impossibility of complete knowledge and assimilation. By questioning that which is seeable, Balogh permits us to “see” that which can only be guessed at.

Extract from: "Between Time, Sign and Reality"

Andreas Fiedler