The sculptures displayed here exude a kind of Oriental peace through their pure forms and the perfect harmony between their raw materials. Steel and an organic material used in them – either wood, coal or ash – are silent witnesses to the cycle of life. While the artist applied traditional sculptural techniques and the principles of Japanese aesthetics in these works, they are incredibly contemporary in their approach. The sheets of steel, a masculine material that is seemingly hard to work with, are welded together with a delicate technique that resembles sewing, thus creating the forms for the basic structure of the sculptures.
Réka Gergely not only understands Japanese aesthetics but also speaks the Japanese language, which explains the titles of her works (Ukiyo no tsuki, Mokutan, Sansei, Kōzō). The tension created by the straight and curved forms is dissolved by the harmony struck between the different material qualities. The asymmetry, which is characteristic of Far Eastern aesthetics, is balanced. As the artist herself emphasises, her works do not in the least have a ‘Japanese feel’ as the Japanese parallels are present in her works at far deeper layers. Instead of seeing parallels, we recognise and perceive the spirit at a more profound level, knowing this is it. Contemporary Japanese sculptures are far more organic in their use of materials and forms than those of Réka Gergely, in which the pure forms contribute to the composition of structures. Each of her works is like a shrine in its own right, in the figurative sense of the word, i.e. a place/object concealing some mysterious, special thing.
Curator : Mária Kondor-Szilágyi
Réka Gergely graduated in sculpture in 2013 from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, where her master was Zoltán Karmó. Her works have been included in various solo and group exhibitions since 2008. Between 2008 and 2014 she regularly participated in the Wood Sculpting Art Colony in Nagyatád, and in 2011 she was invited to the 8th Steel Sculpture Symposium in Kecskemét. She became a member of the Szolnok Fine Art Society in 2012 and that of the Hungarian Sculpture Society in 2013. She has regularly attended the Bronze Sculpture Symposium in Szolnok since 2014. In 2013 her degree project was recognised with the Tamás Vigh Prize awarded to the best graduate sculptor of the year, and in 2016 she received the Garden Gallery Prize of the Szolnok Artists’ Colony. Her public work jointly executed with Tamás Gilly in 2014, titled Floating Fuji, can be found in Zalaszentgrót. She completed the DLA programme at the University of Pécs with the summa cum laude honour in 2018. She lives and works in Biatorbágy.
Simultaneously – Studio Visits
Zoltán Bánföldi | Zsófia Bérczi | Győző Byhon | Gábor Fülöp | Réka Gergely | Tibor Pataki | Péter Rizmayer | Nóra Soós | László Tenk
MŰCSARNOK Kunsthalle Budapest | 28 October 2020 – 10 January 2021
http://mucsarnok.hu/exhibitions/exhibitions.php?mid=N1EB4zaRWOFl8KrOxHvOTY
virtual opening: https://www.facebook.com/events/788612371708763