Nagy Katlin, Kovács István Rétegek (Tata, 1995)

Nagy Katalin is a gobelin artist. Gobelin artists cannot rely on serendipity. The tapestry that nas been removed from the loom cannot be redyed. Still, her work possesses a serendipitous quality. Her most significant series, Street Dimensions, depict the walls, graffiti, and torn placards that she has encountered on the street by random chance, or so it would seem. A more careful inspection of the dates visible on all her gobelins, the images from the scenes, films, or events that have impressed, and the presence of her beloved town’s name reveals how focused this randomness truly is. At the same time, the colorful patches of the surface with their great balance demonstrates the skill of the gobelin weaver. If the torn placards on the walls are accidental, the glimmering lights on the surface of the water are even more so. The theme, however, is unavoidable for her living under the spell of the day to day vibrations of Tata’s Old Lake. One of her latest works combines the experiences of Tata with those of the Spanish seaside with its sparkling colors and magnetism. A bank ordered this tapestry for its private restaurant. There it stands alone passing on its natural gaiety to diners so weary from the city’s domineering grayness. Kovács István and Nagy Katalin are married to each other. Understandably, and perhaps inevitably, their relationship has influenced each other’s work. In one of his exhibitions he presented an astonishing object, the „coat" of an advertising pillar. The placards and advertisements of twenty-five years stacked one on another. If the layers were peeled off, one could have written the town’s history. Yet another form of the street dimension is presented to us. Once he made an exhibition with the title „Protected Objects” consisting of a typewriter, radio, doll, tennis shoes, and a chair. These were alfcovered with the same graphic material. He folded the plane, the graphic artist’s real territory, onto his objects. Kovács István's real field is serigraphy or most recently computer graphics. His works are manifold and original. Either he prepares them on order or is just „playing" with his computer. A computer is never able to do anything good on its own, nor anything bad. It is only a showy servant which obeys commands. István must draw the pastel clouds and wiry drawings with it. On his instructions alone is the computer able to design embroidery patterns as well as lino cuts. Curiouser and curiouser, he has written one of his most fabulous series by hand, a beautiful piece of calligraphy. Is it merely coincidence that his writing sand comes trom a Spanish beach. This is how their mutual experiences become visible. However mutual the experiences may be, the expression of them remain separate entities. For while they belong to each other, they are individual artists as well. AHz Torday

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