Page 11 - Attila Konnyu

rst, activist model, since the “painter’s dance” – the ensemble of all the dynamic, barely controlled movements made during the painting process - is an indispensable component of such a creative process. As to the kind of signi cance existentialist determinism assigns to the body, let me quote from Merleau- Ponty’s book, The Phenomenology of Experience, published in 1945: “Body is the anchor of our earthly existence...I do not only think about space and time, but I belong to space and time, my body ts in to them and pervades them...I am my body”. The implication is that the motion and function of the body shapes all our mental and emotional activity. As Attila Konnyu writes: “...I express myself through the direct, instinctive act...my painting is built on gestures and actions”.
The bringing to the surface of intuition, spontaneity, the contents of the subconscious can be only seemingly opposite to the meditative, creative behaviour, preferring the empty state of zen, since as Mark Tobey’s legendary example shows, one can get to abstract expressionism from a Buddhist monastery, too. In any case, it seems that Konnyu does not need to give a de nite, yes or no reply to the above question. He just splashes and pours the paint, listens to his instincts and meditates. He appears to recognise that his task is to choose, not make nal decisions. If anything, there is really something post-modern in the way he recycles abstract expressionism: not only the stylistic marks can be changed and mixed, but attitudes, too. Taking into consideration
all the views expressed above, as well as the expectation of the essayist that he be objective, what can I say about his pictures?
Let us start with the obvious. They are strong, that is colourful, striking and spectacular in the truest sense of the word. However, behind the orgiastic vision, the almost psychedelic aesthetic, there are hidden depths. Depths, but not abysses; miracles, not traps. The poured out surfaces involuntarily suggest continuous change, the image of an eternal metamorphosis. Certainly, serendipity plays a role in the pictures as well, but in the majority, the excitement of the instinctive trace and discovery can be felt in them. The stripes and layers sometimes react to the painter’s emotions with the sensitiveness of a cardiogram, while in other cases they re ect the mysterious richness of a micro world. In brief. these pictures “work”, and there is potential in them. Contrary to his statement, they do not represent “nothing”, but “everything”: the continuously changing worlds of life and art.
Gábor Pataki
Art Historian, Art History Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Science
KONNYU HAS ACQUIRED SOME TECHNIQUE“S, LIKE THE “ALL OVER” EFFECT, FROM JACKSON POLLOCK, THE USE OF RADICAL SLASHING FORMS THAT CRASH INTO THE SURFACE,
FROM CLYFFORD STILL
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