Hommage à György Ligeti 80

"Sooner or later, István Nádler too was destined to enter the field of attraction of Ligeti's music. Already in the eighties, he was inspired by the music of Bach, Debussy and Bartók. Nádler has dedicated his current series, entitled Unique Graphics on Paper, to György Ligeti on the occasion of the composer's eightieth birthday. Here, Nádler - as his own words reveal - "moves in precarious terrain". In contrast with the dense constructivism of his earlier works, these spaces have become increasingly chiselled and stratified, while the forms have been rendered more gestural and expressive. While previously the levels of colour were built up sculpturally, Nádler now employs only a single facile application of colour on the paper. His twenty-five pictures are calligraphic sketches, which appear as intimate reminiscences, immortalizing the momentary nature of a gesture. In spite of the fact that many pictures refer directly to Ligeti's compositions, e.g., to his Cello Concerto, to his piece for harpsichord entitled Continuum, and to his composition for two pianos, Self-Portrait with Riley and Reich, these works in no way can be considered as illustrations. Their kinship with the music can be found in their level of abstraction." Reinhart Meyer-Kalkus

The most special element of the vernissage and finissage will be the presentation of Kossuth award-winning composer Zoltán Jeney's newest piece, which - continuing the dialogue between visual art and music - was inspired by István Nádler's artworks on view.

Vernissage: Tuesday, 19 October 2004, at 5 p.m.
Finissage: Sunday, 14 November 2004, at 5 p.m., in the presence of the artist