“Unseekable” new exhibition of László feLugossy
László feLugossy is about to open his new exhibition, entitled “unseekable”. The advertising materials – large banners, a poster and an invitation letter were designed by PWSDesign graphic workshop. The exhibition is on atMűvészetMalom, Szentendre, Hungary.
Invitation
feLugossy: unseekable
László feLugossy is not in a good mood, even if we are laughing. There is an old saying that the world is like the one who thinks: comedy. (For whoever feels it is tragedy.)
Many works in László feLugossy’s exhibition reflect the recession and the depression that we might see as economic questions, but that, in reality, it is people that create this economy and it is our behaviour, human nature, for over consumption, neglect of real communication with our soul, turning away from others (whether they be a starving to death African or a frozen poor man), the result of indifference, and of the fact that we no longer know who we are, what our true needs are or whether we really want what we think we do, or maybe somebody really wants make us think that this is what we want?
What really interests feLugossy is not the individual and the society, relations between people but the relation with oneself. We can see faces in some of his pictures in various relations with one another or look at each other in various ways (I’m curious about you) or that have blended into one another (this is not even so disturbing) and there is also someone who (re)draws himself or someone else. (you have to become used to time)
Many times we feel we can see a face, but that it has faded so much that we can not be sure. There are also cases where the face has slipped down into another part of the body and is beginning to resemble the picture of an animal.
His way of illustrating and his varied (often ugly and disgusting) materials (shaving brushes, fur, sieves, cling film, plastic) often refers to our chaotic world of lost morals.The use of these materials along with their deathly serious content provoke the continual presence of irony in their collision of value systems. We find little of true value alongside rubbish and kitsch; that which we do find is most likely to catch us with its loss, though not all is lost if we are aware we have lost something.
Susan Sontag said of irony: “that irony may be the only suitable counterweight, when the arts use it for as serious a goal, that it become the arena for tests of consciousness.” György Spiró also mentions irony in relation to Erzsébet Vojnich’s most recent work: “life is more genuine with this more relaxed perspective.” It is both serious and relaxed, but one thing is certain – an unsurpassable perspective, one final position is irony.
From the beginning of László feLugossy’s we can be witness to “saddening”. There is ever more chaos; ever less true good humour.
Two permanent themes play their part once again; women and their accessories (shoes, bags) and animals (squirrels, monkeys, cats). There are now no women who shoot each other, but there are women’s shoes that are just as aggressive. The theme is the artistic properties of women’s shoes, but the same could be said about the women’s bags too. All feLugossy’s work is typified by femininity, the appearance of the spirit of woman and, naturally, everyone has their own opinion about this. What makes a woman a woman, high heels or something else. The animals are also usually linked to their gender in feLugossy’s work; the cat, the female predator, occurs several times. Squirrels have also been around for a while too, together with dynamite, but today this sweet animal no longer explodes; its tools have become more sophisticated. The weights are a new feature – there have been scales – they practically hang. The weight as a weight, the daring burden, permanent and recurring motif in the current works.
Heroes of everyday objects can be seen on the tin tray: belts, sieves, teeth-cleaning glasses, small plates, small forks, little balls, the motif of the cross frequently occurs, female and male sexual organs. The “box work” is also without precedence in feLugossy’s art. The work is a form of “space in space”, for the museum space, reflecting the museum’s function, the relationship between people and art. Being together with the picture in the dark can be equally reminiscent of confession as the peep – show world.
He often uses words and texts as important accessories to his pictures but not to explain them, but rather to complement them. 1+1=3, the picture evokes a feeling, the text a meaning; the two together can create a new interpretation.
Mona Lisa is perhaps the smallest common denominator in art, but it is also possible that it is the greatest communal experience – that is the beauty of art; it can be everything at the same time. We can find the Mona Lisa again and again; the essence does not change.
I just look at feLugossy’s Neanderthals and i just can’t imagine what a woman living a century ago might have said to them. The woman would have predicted that if humanity does not change the path it has taken, then the era of barbarity will come. I’m afraid she might be right.
Laca has been a defining and cult figure of Hungarian intellectual life for over thirty years. He has been a musician – az A.E.Bizottság vocalist – writer, actor, film director, and currently “just” artist, with painting his main focus of activity. Consciously instinctive; he attempts to approach the inner picture, maintaining his – and with that others’ – sensitivity.
No one main artist directly inspired feLugossy’s art though his style. Dadaism/Neo-dadaismus (removal of details from the world and, with their becoming architypes, the subsequent creation of a new myth, provocation), Surrealism/Neo-surrealism (free association), Expressionism (instinctiveness, strength), combined with his personality and creative methods can be brought into relationship. His immediate and often resembling a child’s drawing bring out feelings of primitiveness and wildness. All these styles are present together, but no one is of supreme importance. We can speak of a related spirit with the artists: Beuys, Flahström, Dubuffet, Enzo Cucchi, Penck, Menyhért Tót.
Works, paintings, cut out pictures, installations, short texts and other associated works and videos from 2006, 2007, 2008 with a performance at the exhibition opening.
–Viola Fakas curator