brief comments on eszter tari's pictures

7/31/2019 Brief Comments on Eszter Tari's Pictures

1/11

Brief Comments on Eszter Taris Pictures

Gbor Kovcs

In contrast with works of art interpretation is always tentative, it canbe open, inspiring, and encouraging further research, or, to the contrary, it

can be summary, simplifying, even enforced and far-fetched. Eszter Tarispictures have multiple meanings and they suggest mystery from time totime, therefore they allow for numerous interpretative possibilities. For thisreason I intend to highlight only the elements that seem to be emphatic.

At rst sight, what is apparent in Eszter Taris pictures is heraspiration for presentness and the creation of transformation; presentnessin the sense that we get in touch with reality, and transformation in thehope that we get closer to the secret, the internal structure of reality.

1. Communal Spirit, 2003

1. Communal Spirit, 2003

e diagonal composition of this picture (the crossing of paths) suggestsa certain direction of rotation, by which means all this might be the imprintof the evolutional spiral of a single person. e shoes as relics may symbolize,among others, a whole familyor a dierent kind of community fromchildhood to adulthood, and the communal spirit (is there such a thing?)if there is one, manifests itself in our relationships, in the best case scenarioin a partnership, or in a less felicitous case in super- and subordination.


2/11

e colour of the red background tending towards orange spreadsonto the childrens shoes that are arranged in radial symmetry, highlightingthe dominant motif of the picture, the tiger-striped shoe which casts ashadow. is latter pictorial object determines the ironic and playful ratherthan unpleasant tone based on strong colour eects by trampling downthe other shoes. e plastic symbolism is manifested directly in various

shades of meaning, which is a characteristic feature of Eszter Taris pictures.

2. Vishnus Toe, 2003

2. Vishnus Toe, 2003

In spite of its simplicity various associations are implied in this

picture. Even its title and the spectacle are in an intriguing contrast with oneanother. Instead of Vishnus toe what the spectator sees is only the point of akhaki boot applied onto the picture and nearly blending into it as if it werea relief element of a terrain traversed by the sacred rivers of the Himalayas;one of these rivers being the Vishnu Ganga, which also symbolizes Vishnu,Gods manifestation in his creative aspect. ere are multiple referencesto reality looked at from afar, to a world rich in mysteries which remainsforever foreign to the supercial spectator and evokes merely a map, just likethe homeland for an outsider in Mikls Radntis poem I cannot know.


3/11

3. Guardian Spirit, 2003

3. Guardian Spirit, 2003

It is a surrealistic collage radiating brute force. e mixture oftransformation and plastic symbolism produces clearly a type of picturein which a peculiar kind of magic realism is incorporated. Magic because it

transforms magically. It is realist because it imparts an internal, hidden, andpersonally experienced reality with elemental force. At the same time it has acritical edge, just like Max Ernsts painting, entitled e Angel of the Hearthand Home (1937) on account of its similar dynamics, construction from thecombination of internal resistance and free natural force (see the at oncerustic and ethereal motif of the shoe split in halves). But while Max Ernstsrebellion is typically masculine, in Eszter Taris pictures the other pole, thematriarchal natural force bursts forth. is harsh, rebellious force can befelt in e Guardian Spirit as well as in another picture of hers, entitled Life.

Max Ernst, e Angel of Hearth and Home, LAnge du foyer, 1937


4/11

4. Ursa Major, 2003

4. Ursa Major, 2003

This picture perfectly exemplifies the process of consistently

implemented transformation. As a result, it implies numerous interpretative

potentials. The motif of the shoe elevated into the cosmic dimension in itsconcrete objectivity seems to dissolve in the interstellar space. The shoe

(or rather boot?) applied onto the picture as a transformed ordinary object

is able to symbolize not only human fallibility but also the eternal human

dilemma, the desire of the mortal for unifying with the immortal. This bold

glance-over already appeared in Eszter Taris range of subjects in an

earlier work entitled Love. See: the kinship of love, death, and meditation.

Ursa Major, Star Chart


5/11

5. Lifestream, 2000

5. Lifestream, 2000

e dynamic composition of this picture is an archetype of non-gurative representations belonging to the topic of the great stream.

e human gures depicted in a similar pose with their heads lowered,half-kneeling and lying fall into the great stream of birth and deathwhose aim and direction are the greatest mystery for the immortal.

6. Love, 2001


6/11

6. Love, 2001

Love is the moment of awakening with its inherent potential for perfecttransformation in which unifying may occur. is is being symbolized bythe compositional form of the circle. In the circle there is no you or I, onlynon-duality prevails in which one may discover his/her original face. ecircular composition also suggests that in love ones whole personality takes

part. e momentum where the two interlocking and intertwined draperiescomplement one another in colour as well (blue reddish orange) conrmsand underlies the elevating process of the transformation of parts into a whole.

7. Tumble, 2001, Comics I-II, 2001

7. Tumble, 2001, Comics I-II, 2001

ese works form a peculiar series, or at least they belong together.As a matter of fact they are sketches which catch ones eye due to theirsimplicity and unpretentious ordinariness. In their making few tools andaltogether some tones were applied, with shades of the black-and- white

scale very loosely pencilled, preserving thereby their original freshness.Because of their character there is no trace of aspiration for lastingnessthis is signalled by the fact that wrapping paper (?) was used as a base, andin addition to the momentary impression its evocative power can aect us.


7/11

8. Life, 2004

8. Life, 2004

Eszter Tari is very resourceful in transforming and changing our articlesfor personal use in order to undermine the constraint of the everyday ideasassociated with them and in creating aesthetic objects or phenomena withentirely dierent meanings; this is well exemplied by the picture entitled

Life. e matching title with its all-embracing meaning enables the receivingpublic to interpret the content aspects of the work according to their ownintentions, yet in this particular case it can also help the viewers interpretationby playing the role of a verbal antitoxin. at is, the artist, with her customaryplayfulness, seems to suggest that Life as reality is always dierent from whatwe generally think about the nature of things, or presume to know about them.


8/11

9. Study to e Intrigues, 2006

9. Study to e Intrigues, 2006

e drapery arranged tidily on the chair is not made interesting eitherby the adjustment which brings out the neness of detail, or even by theevocation of the forms of the ancient Greek statues (torsos) with its clothes-like folds, but rather by the dominance of its peculiar world of colours. isworld, which reminds one of the eosinish china sculptures, is capable oftransforming all our previous assumptions concerning drapery. Furthermore,this transformation is supported by a denite orientation with the help ofthe plural form of the word intrigue in the title: Study to e Intrigues.To understand the relevance of the irony suggested here it is worthwhile tocompare the painting with Bertalan Szkelys work entitled Young Girls(drapery study). With its clinical academism the latter may be regarded asan excellent counterpoint of Eszter Taris powerful subjectivism. She achievesthis to the point of taking the risk of ugliness, even using it as an instrument.

Bertalan Szkely, Young Girls (drapery study)


9/11

10. Indonesian Cat, 2007

10. Indonesian Cat, 2007

As a matter of fact, this painting might be a hidden, or masked self-portrait as well, in other words, it is one of the artistic masks of Eszter Tari,

since it incorporates everything that is needed for the preservation andfunctioning of the boisterous ego (or rather, artistic character) of the painter.

11. Imajinasi V., 200711. Imajinasi V., 2007

is is a painting which abounds in glowing hot colours and mythical forms.


10/11

e commentator cannot help relying on his free associations andimagination (imajinasi in Indonesian): Life is like a fairytaleHidup adalahdongengin which we fail to perceive that aer all we are the designers andcreators of our own fates. I think that one of the messages of Imajinasi (whoknows how many more it has?) can be summarized in a magic formula, borrowedfrom Eliphas Levi: You must have the human head, in order to possess speech;

the eagles wings, in order to scale the heights; the bulls anks, in order to furrowdepths; the lions talons, to make a way on the right and le, before and behind.

Simbion I-IV. 2009. Pcs (Hungary) - Yogyakarta (Indonesia)

Intro XXIV. 2009. Yogyakarta (Indonesia),

Projections I. 2009-2010. Yogyakarta (Indonesia)

12. e Simbion Pictures and Other Perspectives

As I commented above on Lifestream, the subject matter of the greatstream becomes consummate in later pictures, such as Simbion I, SimbionIV, Intro XXIV, and Perspectives I. What points are raised in these picturesaer all? In my opinionwhich opinion may seem to be deviant(Bonjour,

Monsieur Gauguin!) the only point raised is how one can be present in a givenmoment and move forward with the great stream at the same (and ONLY) time.In other words, the question is how the greatest wealth of existence (see: the greatstream) can be linked with the greatest extent of independence and freedom.


11/11

e pictures presented above are convincing evidence of the factthat Eszter Taris art is moving toward the spiritual (or non-gurative, ifyou like) direction and is distancing itself from the spectacle. For EszterTari an in-depth analysis of the forces concealed behind the appearanceof reality is facilitated by her unaectedness, subjective way of seeing,and her occasional playful irony. All this is held together by the red thread

(the great arcane!) of frankness, rescued and preserved from childhood.

Translated by gnes Surnyi

brief comments on eszter tari's pictures

Documents