Vernissage: 11 September , 19h00

The subject of Katalin Rényi's artworks is always the soul or a transcendent experience – sometimes a mystery – related to it. In each and every case, Rényi’s work points beyond the material world. The gold that appears in her paintings, as an imprint of celestial light, indicates the role of this solar symbol. The glowing black we often encounter in her works represents the absolute, and – by invoking the colour of coal – also symbolizes cleansing by fire. Finally, white signifies not so much purity as absence –a state of “unfilledness”. Momentariness appears as an emphatic element in Rényi’s works. In moments thus conjured, however, some imprint of eternity is always present. Her aquarelle painting, in case of her unusually large works, points beyond the quality of adventitiousness that otherwise characterizes the genre. The fragility of her paper objects – human and animal torsos, captured moments – not only evokes feelings of vulnerability about existing in the material shell that is our body, but also points to the relativity of time, or, more precisely, the moment as measured against eternity. Her works involving encaged elements – through the notion of the captured bird – invoke the notion of the soul’s desire to escape. In this artistic universe, the trauma of life’s end is, by necessity, dissolved in the meaning—generating manifestations of sacrality. Rényi’s works done in colour ink are soul-drawings, whose casual eccentricity and overspilling spots of ink appear almost to have been born of a desire for salvation, suggesting that the paths are many but they all lead to the final hours. This is also symbolized by nature, and especially the fate of trees, which is one of the defining motifs of Rényi’s art. Decay – just as petrification – is a kind of transformation of essence: matter returns to an earlier state.

In Rényi’s artistic universe, the human being that exists in the body is no crown of creation, but a being subjugated to God – an interesting speck of dust. The beauty of human beings is ephemeral, their strength is relative. They lose their bloom, like flowers; they turn yellow and brown, like autumn wheat. The inspired quality of Katalin Rényi’s art originates from this humble acknowledgement – and, without exception, always leads us back to the sacred. To the soul, which, in this vain human world, only amounts to rams – but is, nonetheless, overly burdensome for many.

After the exhibition opening we invite you to the piano concert by Etelka Csuprik at 8 Pm.

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