Károlyi Ernő festőművész kiállítása (Vigadó Galéria, Budapest, 1992)
Ernő Károlyi's current exhibition presents us with a selection carefully picked from the rich body of work he has produced over the past decade. Contemplating his pictures we become aware of the unified and consistent nature of the artist's creative vision and his exacting standard of aesthetic beauty is reflected in each painting. The above qualities may be considered standard for any exhibiting artist, however if we consider the peculiarities of our time, the signs of both mental and spiritual crises it becomes clear that the purity of artistic intention that we find here in Károlyi's work is far from self - evident and is not a general characteristic of the creative artist. Especially in light of the dizzying array of styles of our time, when concept and minimal art, installations and non art may be found side by side, and when any effort fused with a shocking and fragmented world view spiced up with a bit of scandal or absurd and purely personal attempts at self-realisation guarantee recognition. The art of Ernő Károlyi, his fulfilled and mature approach to painting, with its art -historical continuity and attention to aesthetic tradition is a very welcome phenomena among these varying trends. His work presents a world of experience, both emotional and spiritual, which can be identified with. Although his creative path, now spanning more than four decades, has been littered with difficulty and conflict, he has been working with the endurance of a pearl shell. He has never been satisfied and got complacent with his achievements along the way. His education as an artist, especially instruction received from Róbert Berény and István Szőnyi determined his early career. His originally lyrical character - still dominant today - was complemented by an adequate stylistic orientation. The initial efforts of Berény and Szőnyi students, like Károlyi, was characterized by sensitivity, selectivity and by attempts to capture the atmosphere of the chosen situation or natural phenomena. A detailed, accurate in-depth analysis of the varied stylistic stages of Károlyi's entire oeuvre so far is beyond the scope of this article. No retrospective will be attempted only an appraisal of the work he started in the early eighties which is unfolding at an increasingly dynamic rate even today. The most important feature of this is the recognition and use of a concept Károlyi borrowed from his artistic predecessor and role model, Robert Delaunay. Namely the adoption of the creative view that colour on its own may be seen as form as well as object. An observation made by Apollinaire about Delaunay may equally be applied to Károlyi: "...his work simultaneously offers pure aesthetic enjoyment, a self-evident structure and an exalted meaning." In Károlyi's case these qualities have come to fruition - for more than ten years now - through freely interpreted non-figurative style. The artist's fundamental dedication to colourism is manifest ever stronger in his selection and varied use of colours, its vibrant life on the canvas and in the discovery of new harmonies. The increasingly daring imagination of forms also take shape through the instinctive organisation of rich and practically tangible colour motives; thus it goes way beyond the interpretive techniques of Herbert Read, beyond the composition theory of "defined ratios". In fact Károlyi does not compose through a preconceived structural scheme, his colour forms find their rightful place in the picture plane during the creative process of painting. The pieces structured this way do not however give the impression of being improvised, as the motives gain their position through the instinctive feel and talent of the artist in a picture space that is usually reduced flat.. It is also worthwhile to take a glimpse inside Károlyi's workshop. During the mental preparation of his pictures he often makes use of pieces of paper of various colours, shapes and sizes, arranges them and then fuses these into collages with the help of hand-drawn or painted artistic motives. This is how he drafts his paintings. Using his innate sense of variety he often juxtaposes harmonic shapes with roughly drawn inorganic elements. Thus rolling s pleasantly gentle details, harmonious on their own, often come face to face with each other and as a result of their colour schemes and shapes at times create a perplexing dissonance. The creative sensibility in all of this may be discovered in that to Károlyi a consistent contemplative mode of expression is alien, he refuses to avoid creative problems in the interest of mere pleasant visuals. In other words he attempts to complement his lyrical nature with a dynamic inner drive in order to create tension. This unique method of conflict is how Károlyi makes his non-figurative paintings exciting and paradoxically it is also how he populates them with life. As a summary to our line of thought we may ask: What characterises Károlyi's art today? With regard to their spiritual content the connected elements of the paintings move autonomously on the picture plane, according to the oscillating psychic rhythm of free association. At the same time the richness of colour ensures the conciseness of his colour motives; thus the colour scheme, condensed into an inner order can also create structural tension with its forms pressed close against each other. These creative qualities relate Károlyi's work to several different directions within universal European art. He could be placed next to Manessier with his free treatment of formal order, but the relaxed informality of Jean Bazaine may also have served as an example; the colour-culture and arsenal of Giuseppee Santomase also finds its echo in Károlyi's colour scheme. The American Philip Guston could also be mentioned, whose fine chromatic colour modulations are akin to the artist's similar endeavours. All the above mentioned fellow artists merely indicate the directions of compatibility. Ernő Károlyi is original because through his work he has answered with increasing autonomy all the creative challenges he has raised; and this makes him significantly different from his contemporaries. It is his rare talent that his paintings are dominated by instinctively and ingeniously shaped constructions free of the formal fetters of constructivism, their colours are rich without the momentariness of impressionism. His work is nonetheless conceptually pure and its unique artistic content increasingly valuable. His paintings fit into the broad category of abstract expressionism, they strike international chords and yet respect and further the Hungarian progressive tradition. Beyond all this the strict, weighed code of behaviour the master maintains and the seriousness of his artistic intentions make him an ethical Hungarian artist who has created a valid, genuine image of the world. His art is an integral part of the best our contemporary painting has to offer. Endre Aszalós art historian