PRESENT CONTINUOUS / FOLYAMATOS JELEN

Each image below links to a corresponding poem / image page!

Returning from Budapest in November of 2017, the idea was to continue working with text for my 2018 Present Continuous / Folyamatos jelen exhibition at the Nyitott Műhely. The exploration of poetry in the Dialogs with József Attila had been a major new thrust in my work. The Exile Series continued the use of written text, in that case pure vocabulary, to create a meaningful layering of mark-making and content.

But what text to use? In the Dialogs my exploration of Attila József’s verse had been deep. In the Exile Series the use of vocabulary had been specific and focused on the theme of Exile. Rather than continuing with another poet or another theme, why not create the text for this new group? So I began to write in a simple yet purposeful way, with a clear objective.

The morsels of poetry adding text to this new Present Continuous / Folyamatos jelen project have been written rapidly, daily. After writing, I draw them with chalks onto the wetted sheets of prepared paper. At that point a second editing process takes place – one that responds to visual aspects of the hand-scrawled marks and compositions which ensue. Sometimes revisions are then made to the original texts, in response to changes that occurred while drawing the words. The aim of the poems themselves is to be concentrated, compacted – writing just enough to capture thoughts and observations passing through my mind, just enough to visually fill each page of this series.

In addition to the use of water-soluable chalks and watercolor on stitched, gessoed paper, is another medium suggested by the exhibition space itself. The Nyitott Műhely, or Open Workshop was originally the leather workshop of László Finta. Now Finta runs an important alternative gallery and performance space, bookstore and café in his former workshop; there is no more leatherwork going on but the large pieces of leather and sewing machinery remain. This presence of leather triggered an immediate visual association with some of my earlier acrylic paintings on textured paper. The Black Painting (Fekete kép) came to mind – a work from 2008 whose dark, acrylic-layerd textured paper surfaces gave a strong impression of long strips of leather. This association led me to experiment with an undercoating of dark acrylic paint beneath the chalk/water manipulations. In turn, the dark tonalities of acrylic ground have added voice to a darkness evoked and expressed in these pieces.

As the stack of works has grown, I’ve found myself arranging and grouping the individual completed pages, absorbed in an act of 2-dimensional assemblage. A layering or impromptu collaging of the pieces occurs as I place smaller sheets on top of larger ones, in pairs, in groups. Exploring variabilities in works as they are moved, combined and recombined is not my own invention. Artists often handle and move their works around on studio walls, floors, surfaces, to better see and understand what they have made and further explore creative possiblities. This process was brought to creative heights in, for example, Matisse’s late paper cuts.

The work on this series continues, new pieces and poems to be posted regularly.

Each image below links to a corresponding poem / image page!