Barbara Eichhorn – Szíj Kamilla: DEVOTE ONESELF TO 1 NOT 2
Drawing is the most direct language between idea and execution. It is a synthetic language, without rhetoric, and because it stands in immediate connection with our mind, it is capable of stealing its secrets and casting them onto paper.
Schedule
Vasily Kandinsky, the artist of visionary sensibility, defined drawing as the relationship between the visible and the invisible. Perhaps this is why, when looking at certain drawings, we seem to discover something incomprehensible, some visual metaphor of the unsayable, a kind of meaningful silence, as if the drawing contained a premonition of truth.
For Barbara Eichhorn (Freising, 1965), drawing materializes through a performative act in which her body, her heartbeat and her breath all take part. On a sheet of paper, the artist copies the silhouette of her head with a pencil, searching for the profiles of her face, body and limbs, testing their boundaries, redrawing and redefining her own forms. In this way lines emerge, thick, thin, elongated, curved, with unexpected breaks and irregular voids; the human body as a living and constantly changing medium. “It is as if I were drawing the state of being, as if I were reflecting in this way on the fragile moment, and on what it means to be present in a changing world.”
For Kamilla Szíj (Budapest, 1957), drawing is a meditative act. In every work we discover an immense network of interconnected elements, a fractal or repetitive composition of forms drawn with the finest pencil lines and great patience, appearing as if they followed the movement of a higher force. Each work is a visual masterpiece that recalls the miracle of creation. “My drawings are condensations; through them I try to create a part that refers to the Whole.”
The two artists, who work with almost opposing dynamics, Barbara Eichhorn, who produces her drawings through the creative force of performative gestures, and Kamilla Szíj, who draws her delicate lines with repetitive persistence, have found a form of connection for this exhibition. Both strive for an expansion of perception that, as Kandinsky said, is capable of transcending the limits of human perception.
Artus
Artus is an open, diverse intellectual and creative workshop, a meeting place for people, ideas and art.
Artus is both Gábor Goda's company, the Artus Studio - a studio in an abandoned factory building of 2000 square metres - and the collective of 30 artists who work there, as well as the Association, which provides the institutional backdrop.
Founded in 1985, Artus is an independent, contemporary, all-arts collective. We have created more than 100 performances and presented them in 25 countries. Since the beginning we have organised international projects, residencies and co-productions.
The Studio's regular programmes include performances by the Artus company, guest performances, visual arts exhibitions, music and other cultural events, as well as self-awareness and movement workshops.
