Fine Gestures, Strong Structures
Inspired by the work of Japanese-born British painter Yuko Shiraishi, the exhibition Fine Gestures, Strong Structures brings together artists whose practices engage, with quiet yet persistent intent, with fundamental concepts such as image, line, drawing, structure, colour, form, and surface. The eight featured artists, spanning different generations, work across drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture-primarily within the realm of abstraction, yet often expanding and reinterpreting its conventional boundaries. Their artistic approaches are grounded in elemental forms and gestures, from which they build toward more complex structures and compositional unities. At the same time, their works often turn analytical, treating the artwork itself as an object of inquiry by examining its formal appearance and constituent elements.
Tamás Konok (1930-2020), associated with post-war tendencies in geometric abstraction, explored new sense of space withing the two-dimensional picture plane. His compositions are structured through the interplay of three distinct layers: a painted base, a form appearing on its surface, and a linear structure in the uppermost layer. Kamilla SzÃj (b. 1957), by contrast, aligns with post-conceptual thinking that emerged in the 1990s. Using freehand drawing as her primary tool, she constructs delicate structures from simple, repetitive elements. One of her exhibited works features geometric motifs arranged in block-like clusters, while the other presents a surface entirely filled with a sensitive, spiralling line-drawing that forms an intricate, continuous field.
In the drawings of Gyula Sági (b. 1987)—which already reflect the lessons of the digital age -the line, as a fundamental visual sign becomes the central visual element. By repeating the motif of parallel lines and incorporating the "errors" generated through repetition into the composition, he creates systematic patterns that at times evoke natural forms. Gonzalo Guzmán's (b. 1991) shiny, industrial-surfaced sculptures counteract the rigidity of geometry with warped, curved edges that likewise recall the irregularities of natural formations such as rocks or stones.
Yuko Shiraishi (b. 1956) creates abstract paintings with a restrained yet varied visual language, where the viewer is drawn not only to the repetition of motifs but above all to the subtle interplay of distinctive colours and tones. Dénes Farkas (b. 1974) analyses geometric forms that are either extracted from real environments or artificially constructed, using the reductive means of black-and-white photography, light and shadow, and tonal gradations of grey.
In the meticulously precise works of Gábor Erdélyi (b. 1970), the spatial presence of painting and the image as object are brought into focus through subtle and conceptual strategies. In one piece, this is achieved through a frame that mimics a transport crate built around the painting; in another, through the delicate painting of the canvas edge-both gestures moving well beyond the conventional boundaries and expectations of abstract painting. Mariann Imre's concrete objects are grounded in a similar conceptual approach. In these works, dust that has settled on the surface of the "painting" appears as an embroidered pattern, while her series of burned sparklers, abstracted into delicate drawings, echoes the repetitive and dedicated working processes of Kamilla SzÃj and Gyula Sági.
Although the selection of the eight artists for the summer exhibition at Ani Molnár Gallery came together somewhat organically-with some of the works selected from the roster of the gallery - I trust that the artists' sensitive, analytical, and reflective approaches provide a compelling connection between them in the context of this exhibition.
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Inspired by the work of Japanese-born British painter Yuko Shiraishi, the exhibition Fine Gestures, Strong Structures brings together artists whose practices engage, with quiet yet persistent intent, with fundamental concepts such as image, line, drawing, structure, colour, form, and surface. The eight featured artists, spanning different generations, work across drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture-primarily within the realm of abstraction, yet often expanding and reinterpreting its conventional boundaries. Their artistic approaches are grounded in elemental forms and gestures, from which they build toward more complex structures and compositional unities. At the same time, their works often turn analytical, treating the artwork itself as an object of inquiry by examining its formal appearance and constituent elements.
Tamás Konok (1930-2020), associated with post-war tendencies in geometric abstraction, explored new sense of space withing the two-dimensional picture plane. His compositions are structured through the interplay of three distinct layers: a painted base, a form appearing on its surface, and a linear structure in the uppermost layer. Kamilla SzÃj (b. 1957), by contrast, aligns with post-conceptual thinking that emerged in the 1990s. Using freehand drawing as her primary tool, she constructs delicate structures from simple, repetitive elements. One of her exhibited works features geometric motifs arranged in block-like clusters, while the other presents a surface entirely filled with a sensitive, spiralling line-drawing that forms an intricate, continuous field.
In the drawings of Gyula Sági (b. 1987)—which already reflect the lessons of the digital age -the line, as a fundamental visual sign becomes the central visual element. By repeating the motif of parallel lines and incorporating the "errors" generated through repetition into the composition, he creates systematic patterns that at times evoke natural forms. Gonzalo Guzmán's (b. 1991) shiny, industrial-surfaced sculptures counteract the rigidity of geometry with warped, curved edges that likewise recall the irregularities of natural formations such as rocks or stones.
Yuko Shiraishi (b. 1956) creates abstract paintings with a restrained yet varied visual language, where the viewer is drawn not only to the repetition of motifs but above all to the subtle interplay of distinctive colours and tones. Dénes Farkas (b. 1974) analyses geometric forms that are either extracted from real environments or artificially constructed, using the reductive means of black-and-white photography, light and shadow, and tonal gradations of grey.
In the meticulously precise works of Gábor Erdélyi (b. 1970), the spatial presence of painting and the image as object are brought into focus through subtle and conceptual strategies. In one piece, this is achieved through a frame that mimics a transport crate built around the painting; in another, through the delicate painting of the canvas edge-both gestures moving well beyond the conventional boundaries and expectations of abstract painting. Mariann Imre's concrete objects are grounded in a similar conceptual approach. In these works, dust that has settled on the surface of the "painting" appears as an embroidered pattern, while her series of burned sparklers, abstracted into delicate drawings, echoes the repetitive and dedicated working processes of Kamilla SzÃj and Gyula Sági.
Although the selection of the eight artists for the summer exhibition at Ani Molnár Gallery came together somewhat organically-with some of the works selected from the roster of the gallery - I trust that the artists' sensitive, analytical, and reflective approaches provide a compelling connection between them in the context of this exhibition.
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