New Hungarian Glass (Coleridge, London, 1984)

“NEW HUNGARIAN GLASS” at COLERIDGE 192 Piccadilly, London W1 Wednesday 28th March—21st April We are very pleased to have this opportunity of showing the work of five Hungarian Studio Glass Artists: ZOLTÁN BOHUS, MARIA LUGOSSY, GYÖRGY BUCZKO, AGNES KERTÉSZFI, and MARIA MÉSZÁROS. We have been planning this exhibition since 1982 when we met two of the artists, Zoltán Bohus and Maria Lugossy at the International Glass Symposium in Frauenau, Germany; where they presented a most interesting paper on “Glass in Hungary Today”. We hope that you will enjoy this exhibition and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participating artists. Coleridge Gallery Contemporary Hungarian Glass Art can be divided into two distinct primary areas. The first comprises individual pieces inspired mainly by the colour and form of the “Jugendstil” (British “Modern Style”) a genre which was popular at the turn of the century. The other area is influenced by the experimental spirit of modern sculpture. It explores the relationship of space, mass and medium—as does sculpture—but the artists find that glass embodies new and exciting properties. The real shape of a glass sculpture is made by the movement and reflection of light. The excitement for the artist is directing this play of light. No other medium allows the artist such freedom to dissolve the weight of a heavy substance and lighten and expand it through space. The work of the artists in this exhibition shows a kindred spirit underlying an individuality which is expressed in the way that they use light in their sculptures. Maria Lugossy’s work combines the two faces of Nature: the hardness of crystals and the softness of organic forms. Her hard, sharp, angular outward forms—usually pyramids—include the “cell” symbolising the organic world. This is in the shape of a lens, bordered by a gently arching line. It is either polished optical glass or cut out as a negative shape from the pyramid block. The transparency of glass allows an interplay of harmonious contrasts. The artist has placed the lens in a variety of settings. In some pieces it shines brilliantly from the depths of a “cave”. In others it glimmers mysteriously through the strata of a smoky cut pyramid. In her work “The Pyramid of Time” the artist creates fine square nets by means of sandblasting layers of laminated glass. To the onlooker the glass networks take on different shapes and positions suggesting the fluid connection between time and space. Time is always present in the artist’s work. “Earth and Time” illustrates this point. The relationship between earth and time is expressed by the use of layers of raw and polished glass. The perfection and clarity of the cool perfect optical glass embodies the void out of which organic life evolved. Hence the cell cut deep into the piece is symbolic of life through the aeons of time. The mineral crystal suggests the elemental nature of Earth. Zoltán Bohus’s work concentrates on the concept of space. The heavy, massive glass body of his sculptures becomes light and airy in the multifarious play of light and colour. The inspiration for the rising arches created in his laminated glass structures has its roots in mathematical and geometric formulae. The micro thin metallic surfaces between the strata enhance the reflections in the glass. The homogenous

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