Kárpáti Tamás

Short listing

An exhibition resurrected from the Godot Gallery's original WordPress archive.

Full exhibition text

In a larger size

Hercules

35x18,5, oil, paper, chalk, 2011

The Godot Gallery cordially invites you

Tamás Kárpáti

for the exhibition

In a larger size

Hell Earth I–II.

32,7 × 24,5 and 32,5 × 26, oil, canvas, wood, 2013

Opening: 2016. January 6 at 19

Opening: Wehner Tibor, art historian

Viewable until January 30

Opening hours: from Tuesday to Friday 9 to 14, on Saturday 10 to 13 o'clock

In larger size

with his work titled “Kárpáti Tamás Kos”

Tómas Kárpáti, a recipient of the Munkácsy Prize for painting, continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hungary, where his masters were Simon Sarkantyú and Jenő Barcsay. His painting is religious in theme, although his most recent works often lean toward the abstract, non‑figurative.

According to critics, in his painting the removal of concrete figuration played a kind of purifying blaze. If we do not wish to live by such lofty words as “purifying blaze” (many start to launch guil‑bombs at the audience when a religious theme is mentioned), it is nevertheless worth noting that Kárpáti always stops before the work becomes explicit, so there is always a seed rather than a statement. He builds his pictures stepwise; under the top paint layer (which we interpret as the work itself) there may be several other images, and the creative process is a mood‑bound journey. The resulting work therefore requires contemplative reception for several reasons, and not stream‑of‑consciousness. With the latter we capture the essence precisely. Kárpáti Tamás is a deeply religious man and painter; it would seem forced to try to separate these two. Yet I believe it is more elegant and fruitful to analyse the images on an aesthetic rather than an ethical level.

In larger size

Silent Angel

86,5 by 24, oil, wood, 2014

In larger size

Silent Angel (part)

In Kárpáti’s painting, the 70s were dominated by warm hues, then a decade later a cooler, greener tone appeared in his works and the background took on Gothic arches. These few years are the most clearly defined period in his oeuvre, and his body of work would hardly be neatly divided into distinct epochs, which goes against every collector’s, dealer’s and art historian’s expectation. Whether or not it is conscious, it can be read as an avant‑garde gesture, and if we are discussing avant‑garde gestures, it is certainly a bold thing for someone today to create a body of work that deliberately disregards contemporary artistic trends. Don’t be misled; it is not that Kárpáti is somehow more “current” because of a hidden, “mystical miracle,” unlike conceptual artists and their socially reflective pieces. No. As a gesture it has its significance. I think pink alleys, when coupled with a transcendental side‑conversation and a dash of patois, would justify the artist’s modernity. Kárpáti is neither modern nor non‑modern, these categories are invalid for him, just as they are for a Buddhist or a Benedictine monk. - Retteghy Ádám, aesthete

In larger dimensions

St John

100 x 70, oil, canvas, 2014

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