Anna Regős: Sample quotes

Anna Regős' textile works combine a love of patterns with a bold use of materials and found elements, as well as a proficiency in contemporary art and design. The systematic use of patterns and the harmony and playfulness of colors encourage us to reflect on the images on display and try to discover and interpret the layers of meaning hidden in the structures.

In the exhibition Pattern Quotes, the emphasis is on presenting autonomous works, but object design is equally important in the artist's oeuvre. These two aspects complement and support each other as they progress in parallel. According to the artist, periods of object design were always followed by periods of autonomous creation. This rhythm can also be observed in the dating of the autonomous textiles, so the oeuvre itself has a kind of organic rhythm, a pattern.

His earliest autonomous works were inspired by Japanese art, not only in terms of motifs but also in terms of approach.

In the early 1990s, he created several series that differ in form and motif, but share a common feature: a connection to artistic traditions, evoking the techniques or visual elements of earlier periods. (Bayeux series, Labyrinth series)

Regős also began creating the Computer Tapestry series in the early 1990s. These works were made on a bronze or steel fabric base, reinforced with a layer of linen canvas. The appliqué or overlay on the tapestry is made up of computer parts. The various elements, consisting of plastic, metal, wire coils, and small panels, follow a certain pattern to create the design of the tapestry. The use of technical devices and materials foreign to the visual arts has become increasingly widespread in the visual arts. Printed circuit boards appear as a characteristic motif in Ország Lili's iconostases from the early 1970s, as well as in her 1974 masterpiece, the Labyrinth series. After a brief acquaintance, Ilona Keserü dedicated her painting, also made on a printed circuit board, to her, entitled Message to Ország Lili.

The tapestry series created in the late 1990s was based on deep blue linen canvas, on which colorful pieces of fabric appeared, folded and sewn on, which were arranged into a regular grid structure by riveting. In these works, the titles help the viewer to understand and appreciate the images. (e.g., Consonance, Circulation) Folding as a technique also recurs in Anna Regős's later series. There are numerous examples of works made using folding in Hungarian visual art, from painting (Simon Hantaï used the technique in his Mariales paintings) to experimental film (Dóra Maurer: Időmérés [Time Measurement]).

In the early 2000s, the form of the images changed somewhat, although the constituent elements remained the same, such as dark blue linen, colored canvas fields, and rivets. Due to the reduction in color, the structure of the rivets, which form a regular grid, becomes much more powerful.

In the series created in 2012, a new element is added to the external appearance of the objects, namely the use of plexiglass covers, which frame the works, thus creating an exhibition situation and a genre statement.

In the 2017 works, the almost square shape becomes permanent, and in these images, the pleated linen canvas produces different color transitions and shapes, such as Pastel Color Transition, or Squares and Stripes.

Chronologically, the most recent work, but the first one visitors encounter at the exhibition, is the spatial textile entitled Safety Net. In 2024, this was the winning entry, on the basis of which Anna Regős was named Textile Artist of the Year at the 8th International Textile Art Triennial.