Ákos Matzon Decades

István Sinkó's opening speech:

Parts and Wholes

"The artist does not paint the eye, but what the eye sees." (Sándor Molnár)

Ákos Matzon (with the help of László Hegyeshalmi) has arranged the sections of his oeuvre under the title Decades. What the viewer sees is of course only a fragment - a part - of this oeuvre, which has been constantly enriching for more than forty years.

1980 - 1991 departure

1992 - 2001 search for a way forward

2022 - 2011 unfolding

2012 - 2021 series

2021 - more

Matzon's division is both chronological and thematic. We move from the beginnings - his association with Kassák, Malevic, De Stijl in general, the colourful, geometric abstract paintings made long before his "emergence" in 1989, when he had his first group exhibition - to the last - 21-22. But how can this process, like the changes in abstract painting in general be seen in Matzon's painting (I say painting, but it is his art in general, since he is also a sculptor and a flat sculptor)?

From the beginning Matzon captured in his paintings the structure, the skeleton and the exterior of the building, which is linked to the architect's past. The building, manifested in simple structures, even if later given a serious external decoration. Abandoning this ornamentation Matzon explored the logic of colour and form in his early works. The picture is a whole, a form is a whole, that is the rhythm of the large and small surfaces of the classical geometric abstract is expressed on the surfaces with strong colour effects. Later, as one progresses along the decades, certain themes are amplified, i.e. the whole image becomes the recipient of a thought experiment. Many of these series experiments can already be seen in the works of the first three decades, but Matzon marks the period 2012-21 with the title Series. In the meantime, i.e. from the 1990s onwards we can observe a major change in the creative approach. Colour is receding, "flat sculptures" appear (one could call them Matzon Merzbilds). The line is embedded as a directing and organising element between the constructions that emerge into the space. Periodically surfaces and iron underpaintings shape the picture. Parts dominate the picture field.

Then there are further shifts - a slight detour towards calligraphy - emphasising playfulness. And of course music as a source of inspiration. Bach and Bartók, Cage and Reich are present in works that are sometimes addressed to them, sometimes only referring to them. Rhythm, which is also an important characteristic of architecture is a dominant element in Matzon's entire oeuvre - when he explores the angles of inclination of painted or glued and painted elements in the early 2000s (in his fugue paintings), or when he evokes the black and white variations of piano keys (muralia-muralia), and then in the slots of the '10s, we witness this rhythmic - arhythmic romp.

Playfulness, another key word is rarely exemplified in geometric abstraction, but not in the work of Ákos Matzon. Whether he is operating with children's toys (building blocks, wooden balls) or using patterned trees or the surprise effects of mirrors placed behind his slits, all his works are filled with fun, startling spectacles. In fact, Matzon adheres to the principle expressed by Szilárd Podmaniczky in his catalogue text for the exhibition Head or/and Sail: "We can enjoy all art, including abstract geometric art and specifically the works of Ákos Matzon, if we test our openness, if we seek resonance, if we find the possibility of tuning in, or to put it more succinctly, if we are in tune with what we see." And Matzon opens many doors for us.

In the last two decades of the exhibition, but especially in the series created at the turn of the '10s and '20s we can feel the degree of freedom that Matzon offers not only to himself but also to his viewers (The Turning, Fractals). Most recently he has been fascinated by the shape of the rhombus, the displaced square image and has subsequently experimented with its possibilities in a number of versions. "I'm tired of square pictures", he says, which shows that Matzon is constantly innovating, sometimes making changes on a larger, sometimes smaller scale in the continuity of his oeuvre. Such were the book reliefs and such is the Omega series, which is also a tribute to Teilhard de Chardin, the great Catholic thinker.

Ákos Matzon strives towards the Completeness of Sándor Weöres, his hard and soft worlds connecting Heaven and Earth. So constant and changing, as the last lines of Ágnes Nemes Nagy's poem Ekhnaton in the Sky, born 100 years ago, show:

There in the morning. There are big plants.
There, the big chamomile grass is not moving,
with a few pieces of iron in between,
Above it a spleenful density,
with white-spoke plant-days
The waveless Milky Way and no wind.
Always. Forever. South.