András Mengyán, Exhibition at the Kieselbach Gallery
This is an old post. Information may be outdated.
András Mengyán is a distinctive representative of geometric abstract painting, object creation rooted in the legacy of constructivism, and multimedia installations in contemporary Hungarian art. As a member of the second generation of the neo-avant-garde, he is the recipient of several prestigious awards, and his teaching activities are also significant, both in Hungary and Norway. In his serial works – as art historian Ildikó Nagy has stated – “the joy of reason, the truth and beauty of logic that transcends space and time, and the contingencies of everyday life become our visual experience”.
Mengyán was born in Békéscsaba as the brother of János Fajó, one of the renowned masters of Hungarian geometric painting. In 1968 he graduated from the Hungarian University of Applied Arts with a degree in mechanical engineering design. While maintaining his sensitivity to applied arts, his interest turned to fine arts: he was preoccupied with the geometric forms of concrete art and the structural experiments of series. He was one of the founding members of the Pesti Műhely (Pest Workshop), established in 1974 by representatives of the Iparterv generation, which operated a screen printing workshop. His sculptures, graphics and paintings created in the 1970s analyzed the permutation possibilities of three-dimensional structures without repetition with scientific precision, creating an individual formal vocabulary (M-form system).
His art changed as a result of his trip to the United States in 1981-1982. His first multimedia environment, a computer-controlled, programmable installation presented at his 1984 exhibition in Székesfehérvár, launched an internationally groundbreaking series. From the 1980s onwards, postmodern playfulness became dominant in his analytical, geometric world, and the role of light (lamps, lasers, UV) was revalued. His geometric paintings of the past decades translate the formal problems of earlier spatial installations into two dimensions, evoking the third dimension with the effect of UV light. Thanks to the photoluminescent pigment, the acrylic paintings – depending on the lighting – double, the dimensions of the depicted geometric shapes unexpectedly break, stepping from the plane into space, resulting in a playful mix of forms.
The geometric shapes outlined in bright colors usually float in front of black backgrounds, analyzing the technophile utopias of civilization. After many years of commuting between Norway and Hungary, Mengyán now lives and works in Budapest. His works can be found in numerous Hungarian and several international public collections.
The exhibition can be viewed from August 23 to September 13, 2024 at the Kieselbach Gallery.