Untitled - Székelyföldi Grafikai Biennále

is interesting to see the use of form in the non-European countries, the particular use of European modernism
with contrasting eclecticism or – why not -, with the intention of creating a synthesis. The essential abstract
picture, the monochromist and minimalistic, the geometrical and the structuralistic approaches are all present
at the mustering, by means of traditional and new graphic techniques.
Of course, not every artistic striving or attempt can be of fructifying force, or become art with permanently
valid contents. We can clearly sense the particularities of the generation-specific creative concepts, the
differences inherent in the artistic visions, but of course, beyond a certain quality niveau there is no point
in making comparisons. The evolutionist and authoritarian approach has by now lost its justification within
the evaluative process, there is no exclusive progression. The danger of formalism can also be found in
the insistantly innovative experimentation. We usually pass this sentence in relation to the stagnating,
only formally conserved folkish art, often criticizing the conservative respect for tradition. The true idea
is nevertheless that of the synthetizingly complete artwork where tradition meets with innovation; in the
title of my writing I still refer to the relationship between tradition and innovation as symbiosis, meaning a
constant nearing of the two. We are not supposed to preserve the old values as puppets in new gowns, but
let them live on with the boldness to transform and render them new, enriching them with new meanings. I
think that this is the ultimate purpose of this international review mustering variegation. It is a challenge and
a fecundating adventure both for the receiver and the creator. It is an exhibition-forum opened up to universal
culture, where new dimensions could emerge as a result of comparing the many different artistic conceptions.
No matter how ever-changing and minced-up art appears to us, it is important to find the cohesive fundament,
we might - having been consolidated by other cultures -, even want to change our aesthetic attitudes. From
the multitude of inner truths that may appear diverse and relative, which is the basic characteristic of quality
graphic artworks, we can sense the common principle, the moral view. These works of art have been created
in the spirit of the humane life philosophy, from the evocation of the resigned beauty ideal to the roughly
formulated, provocative social criticism to the bucolic melancholy to the disturbing, tragical intonation, from
the emblematic simplicity to the overflowing, narrative scene.
Our artistic tradition is enriched by the succession of individual discoveries and revelations, thanks to the
influence of new impulses our cultural legacy becomes a dynamic organic reality. Our inherited culture can only
survive as an open culture, the individual initiative, the searching and exploring mentality become important.
Amidst the seemingly inscrutable transformations beauty and truth remain inseparably the most essential
component of the artwork.
Gaál József
Nemzetközi grafikai szemle / Contemplaţii grafice / Graphics review
19