Inspired by folklore, stories, a deep spirituality and a complex personal journey, the stunning work of the fascinating artist Réka Somogyi is currently on display at the beautiful, bright and airy Ybl Palota. A selection of 17 striking silk paintings adorn the sun-drenched walls, and after taking them in, we wanted to know more about the woman behind the silk and the stories…
How did the exhibition at the Ybl Palota come about?
The art director of Ybl Palota contacted me last fall and offered me the opportunity to exhibit my works there. Apparently, they found me when browsing the net.
What would you say are your main inspirations when painting?
My current mood, a story or just a situation I’m in.
There appears to be a sense of deep spirituality in your work. Are you a spiritual person?
I hope. Nothing else characterizes me more. Although I prefer to use ‘searching’ instead of ‘spiritual’.
From what you say about it on your website, your work seems to be something that’s very therapeutic for you. How would you describe the personal relationship you have with your art?
Painting is the reflection of my innermost dialogue with the nameless miracle who is the base of all life. As I can hardly reach and express this Place in words, I paint about It. In fact, I can’t even paint about it, only “circumpaint” it. It’s therapeutic in the sense that it would quite possibly be damaging if all this had to stay inside me. It’s something of a channel for me, like cooking, teaching, healing or shouting and crying may be for others.
Your work has a strong relationship with stories. Have these stories been created to accompany your works after they were painted or before?
First there is the story, then comes the picture. I paint a diary instead of writing one. And after a picture’s been finished, I start writing the accompanying text. These are not on show at the exhibition but my next book, which will hopefully be finished next year, will contain them alongside the pictures. (Her first book, entitled “Árapály-Tengermadár”, “Ebb and Flow-Seabird”, was published in 2007 by Ursus Libris Publishing House)
What kinds of stories or folklore are your paintings inspired/influenced by or related to?
Well, if I really have to choose something, then Advaita Vedanta, the school of non-duality. I have two teachers: one living in a body and one not living in a body. This is the most wonderful love, which can appear in this space and time. That’s what I paint about, the longing for your Beloved and the hope for becoming one. In my last picture, we are already together…
Many of the stories associated with your works have a moral or deeper meaning attached to them. Do you see your works as having one meaning or many?
I build on my own experiences, as I don’t know, I can only imagine, how an other person works. I attach one specific meaning to each work and the viewers see and interpret them through the window of their unique viewpoint. That’s how one picture becomes many pictures.
Images of women feature heavily in your work – not many of the stories involve men. Is there a reason for this?
I am into men… So this is not the reason. I intend to paint genderless faces, which probably turn out to be a bit feminine at the end. However, there’s one figure in the pictures that is definitely a woman: me. And then there’s often an other, who is almighty and doesn’t have a face in reality but had to be “circumpainted” somehow… Really, gender is completely unimportant at this level.
How much has your work been influenced by your experiences of growing up and living in Hungary?
I love this land but I don’t cling to it. Wherever I am, it’s stored inside me. I am fond of its folk motifs – I’ve just copied some patterns of blue dying to some of my pictures. This land strokes you, looks after you, nurses and protects you. I can’t express how grateful I am that I can walk on it.
Is Budapest an inspiring city for you, artistically?
No, not really. Don’t get me wrong, I love Budapest. Not because how the city looks like, what it has become, in other words, not because of the clothes the poor thing is wearing but I love Her, the land, the way the Danube cuts it into two, like the artery. Yet, artistically Budapest doesn’t inspire me.
Your work contains so much color and vibrance. Are you ever influenced by music in any way?
No. I paint in quiet. Perhaps there is actually music in silence and that’s what vibrates in my pictures.
How would you describe the exhibition of your work at the Ybl Palota in a few words?
17 pictures of mine are on display in the atrium until mid-July, which were painted in 2008 and 2009. Unfortunately, there was no room for more… I particularly regret that the 2-meter ones couldn’t be exhibited. But it’s such a honor to be here, close to the Danube.
Could you describe the technique and materials you use.
I paint on silk, using the so-called contour technique. I stretch the silk onto a large frame, above a desk, so you have to bend forward to reach it. First, I draw the design with a “phantom pen”, and then I paint the contours and fill them.
Have you/do you ever work in other mediums?
Yes, I write. I wrote the third part of my first book myself and would like to write the whole second book. Plus, I live, which is also creating in a way…
Réka’s work will be on display at the Ybl Palota until July 16th. For more information on her work and her recent book, see www.somogyireka.hu.
Amy Weston (translation by Gabriella Emszt)
Ybl Palota
1053 Budapest, Károlyi Mihály utca 12. (next to the Pesti Lámőás Restaurant and Café)
www.yblrendezveny.hu
Entrance: Free