Ervin Zsubori: Hidden dimensions

There are several artistic ways to approach the world. One obvious possibility is the direct, extensive one when the artist so to say tries to photograph the universe. He tries to get into as many places and situations as possible and lives through moments to acquire experiences which deserve to be recorded, exposed, drawn, painted or filmed. The indirect version of this school is when not the grasped slices of the world are put into the artwork but we create new worlds building on the impression, catharsises maybe traumas which were acquired during the process of cognition or on the contrary breaking away from them.

József Gábos knows both ways and occasionally walks on them but he has chosen a third main direction for himself. While his elemental desire is the thorough and complete cognition, reception, experience and building in a “Weltanschaung” of the world and not least the universe created by art, he stepped on the intensive path and started to move inwards.

At the beginning of a project he usually lifts out of its original environment a tiny piece, slice and not rarely one which has been constructed by him with simple, repetitive gestures – with pen, brush, pencil or computer – and starts to go to the kernel of this acquired object. During this trip inwards or rather penetration, the chosen medium may prove to be not deep enough for submerging in it. This, however, does not necessary mean a dead end because it may happen that the material too light in itself gets a new investigation-worthy character when mixed with another. At other times the deposit brought up to surface must be reduced to powder, grounded up and dissolved to compose an artistic explosive mixture and so making it worth working further. The creation of the starting point is usually manual but the means of penetration at almost all times is the computer. The process consists of several steps. After reaching a certain depth new zero points and new originals are created by using the obtained material – partly manually – and this new, enriched base will be a new starting point. Meanwhile colours, gestures, fragments of the outside world, evident and unidentifiable pieces of the reality are mixed to the material or certain compounds are extracted from the solution.

Then the artist reaches a level which cannot be touched by sunshine only the light of the pixels are shining on the monitor. Rightly could we think that this is the moment when the artist can declare the work “ready”, which is the key moment of every artistic creation. However, this moment does not signify the final step for József Gábos, only the altering of the direction. The artist ascertains that he has reached a territory where nobody has been before him, therefore it is worth stopping here and trying to find or to open up those forks and branches from which one or more artworks can be created. Strikingly, the works brought to the surface this way have come from the same layer and so they compose a cycle. But they are not simple variations but independent and characteristic artworks. The number of artworks which can be exploited from the same layer is not evident in every case. A cycle can be open and can contain hidden treasures or the author can say that it is enough, from this layer only such an amount can be brought to the surface and he would implode this tunnel forever.

A part of the material which comes from the digital depth does not need additional processing, but some need further cleaning, forming and polishing, to show their quality. However the artworks cannot reach their final form on the monitor but in print. The essence of the print is the nature of the raw material, the texture of the surface, the quality of the ink, the format and the size. In the printing process the virtual structures are transformed into material reality and so the hidden dimensions which were concealed in the depth before or never existed can be seen, perceived or touched by anyone.

At this exhibition József Gábos has opened up several adits for the creative, receptive eyes so we should not hesitate to tumble into them.

[It was read on 08.09.2011. at Ökollégium Art Gallery as the opening speech for József Gábos’ exhibition titled: Hidden dimensions]


Pictures from the exhibition