Ortus

Opening: June 12, 2013. 18:00
Location: National Cancer Institute – Hall of Buinding 3 (H-1122 Budapest, Ráth György str. 7-9.)

It was as if nature herself had flown onto the canvasses in her complete, unfathomable and intellectually incomprehensible capacity. I let out a relieved sigh and I would lean back, if I could. These paintings extend an invitation for introspection and a relaxed internal voyage.

Clouds, moisture rising from the ground, mountain ranges and roads enchant us, tempting us to enter a world can only be perceived in a different way.

For the past fifteen years, I have been seeing the paintings of Ágnes Kontra. Looking back upon the years at university, the subject matter that had inspired her and the way it is expressed had remained the same throughout.
I have barely perceived distinctly shifts to new periods in her art; all changes took place with delicate, soft transitions, in a barely perceptible manner, becoming visible right before my eyes.

The proportions within her paintings, however, have changed considerably with the passage of years. The significant motif of the slow change can be grasped by the fact that the horizontal line or dynamic horizon separating the sky from the ground is migrating upward. This way, we can see less and less of the bottom zone and our gaze turns towards the sky.
On her latest paintings, the horizon is missing, the proximity of the sky can be experienced.
A completed upturned look, for me, a reverse fall upward is taking place.

The images are not specific. This, in turn, is a tool of magic.
It intentionally leads one from the routine of habitual perception.

I feel that all of her paintings are something other than a painting; a gateway and an expanding zone.

Ági’s paintings liberate me from my accepted perspective and many other superfluous things as well. As they expand in space, they are like spiritual beings longing to speak. I sense a timelessness in their presence.

I am myself continuously on the path of understanding and experiencing them, in an ever deepening way.

February 2013
Sára Osgyányi
artist