András Végh | A Window to the World

solo exhibition

“Contemplative, pensive, meditative in nature – yet imbued with immense dynamism and activity – expressions derived from painterly description but elevated to a metaphorical charge characterize the works of András Végh. In the deep layers of forms and shapes that refer to specifics, are stylized (distorted), and suggestive, gifting the viewer with the experience of the possibility of recognition, perhaps lie scenes of life, actions, events. These are strongly rewritten painterly visions from the simple and peculiar (peculiar in their simplicity) phenomena of reality and everyday life, often recorded as compositions dazzling in decorativeness, form beauty, and brimming with emotions. The large, blurred organic shapes and concrete evocations, the exclamatory brushstrokes and the light, loose traces, the associative references, and the patient alignment of thousands of tiny moments create a painterly world in which discipline and unrestrained playfulness, conscious composition and self-expressive gesture wrestle and clash. How far can one venture at the expense of the other, how freely can painterly self-expression create form, and to what extent can artistic discipline control the passions, how can logical construction restrain the insatiable emotions? These indeterminate or difficult-to-answer questions and doubts ignite the intense tension of András Végh's paintings, spurred by the immense effort to inventory, conquer, explore, and imbue things, events, and phenomena with personality.”

Wehner Tibor: The Painterly Order of Chaos (excerpt) / In: András Végh, T’Art Foundation, Kugler Books, 2008

András Végh, Munkácsy Mihály Prize-winning painter, was born in Tolna in 1940 and currently lives and works in Budapest. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1967, where his masters were János Kmetty and Aurél Bernáth. Throughout his career, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both domestically and internationally, with his works included in many public collections. His paintings build on the boundary between abstract and realistic, abstract and concrete, ranging from figurative representation to non-figurative. Above all, his works radiate playfulness and joie de vivre.