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The Heart of Painting - Thoughts for the Beholder |
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| The central theme of Peter Almássy's
drawings in mixed media are the impressions which the artist received during
his extensive travels. As has been the case already with the German Expressionists
August Macke and Franz Marc and the even more lyrical Paul Klee, the particularities
in the landscape of the countries in which Peter Almássy traveled,
the intensity and the glimmer of the light, as well as the always fascinating
structures of sand, gravel and mountain formations have also had a creative
influence on Peter Almássy's work.
This is seen, above all, in the rather abstract colored drawings which seem to be reduced to the essential core of the natural impressions and experience. They do not only possess a pleasant formal freedom and sensitive personal style but have been created with the knowledge necessary for all graphing and painting techniques. His artistic descriptions require a new visual awareness. Peter Almássy is neither a naturalist nor is he an abstract painter totally removed from optical impressions. A magical lightness in the portrayal of his impressions and a delicate poetry is offered by Almássy's art. The result weighs more substantial than suggested by the apparent ease. His paintings represent an old dream, a dream of harmony, balance, beauty and poetic perfection. Peter Almássy's paintings "speak" in a very personal, quite colorful language of strong, abstract themes. The true beholder who is ready to let himself be drawn in, who will use his eyes properly, will find that he is being led onto an uneven path. The paintings guide the beholder into a multitude
of elements and forms of nature; abstraction seems to softly glide towards
substance and emotionless viewing eventually must subside. Almássy
rediscovers nature and makes the rigid external reality come to life.
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The process of painting makes structure,
translucent color paths and strokes unfold before the beholder. Paintings
of the series "Pacific Plunge" and "Yemen" reveal that Almássy's
pictures present analogies to landscapes without ever being landscapes.
Through consequent abstraction the mass of colors is reduced, multiple
layers of basic forms are described and new ways of viewing demonstrated.
Decisive for experiencing Almássy's paintings is of course the readiness to go along with the multiform vigor of colors. Viewing thus leads right into the heart of his paintings. Characteristic of the paintings is the recurring reference to the silhouette-like, to metamorphism and substantiality. Shapes and shadows with strong complex coloring are at the same time plastic forms, reflecting the painter's romantic inclination. Years ago, the painter adopted the square format which forces the beholder to view the paintings in an unusual way (normal viewing englobes width before height). In using four equal sides, he achieves an optical sedation, thus heightening the impact of his paintings. Says the painter of himself: "...to exercise oneself in a free, moving style of painting which is elaborate in detail, yet never limiting, inviting the eye to wander between paths of color, lines and structures, to follow the form-giving hand in its movements - up and down back and forth. ...and the most important aspect of my artwork is: to experiment with the combination of artistic effects in order to create the interrelation between colors, contours and surfaces." May these comments suffice to demonstrate that Almássy's paintings will not be readily "explained." They convince, as only paintings know how to: Through the eye.
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