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Renata Hegyi
1 - 30 May, 2020 Lockdown - Drawing Diary created in April 2020 for MocaLondon_WE Renata Hegyi will show a drawing diary, a series of drawings created between 6 - 24 April 2020. Each image will have an accompanying text. The selected sentences were chosen from four books, they help to reflect on the wondering thoughts that occupied Hegyi’s mind while working on the drawings in lockdown London. Unwrapping a bottle can be seen as a metaphor for a situation that unfolds in slow motion. ‘In a different light’, we may see something else that we were not able to observe otherwise. Renata Hegyi's work hovers between different themes and disciplines, capturing views on reality and its meaning. She is interested in examining the different viewpoints of the same topic. Born in Dunajska Streda/ Dunaszerdahely, Slovakia. Lives and works in London and a graduate of the Royal Academy Schools (2003) and Byam Shaw School of Fine Art (1999). Hegyi’s work has been shown in various curated exhibitions both in the UK and internationally, including Nature Morte Touring Exhibition: Guildhall Art Gallery, London, UK, Sep. 2017 - April 2018. National Museum - The Four Dome Pavilion. Wrocław, Poland; Konsthallen-Bohusläns Museum, Sweden; Hå Gamle Prestegard, June 2015 – April 2016, Norway. Drive-Thru, Q Park, Cavendish Sq. London, Fold Gallery, London; Millimetre at House, London; Sadler's Wells, London; Gimpel Fils, London; Brighton Photo Fringe -Grey Area, Brighton; Vienna Biennale, Austria; Hungarian Cultural Centre, London; Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London; Shine Gallery, London; Europ' Art 02, Paris, France; Hirschl Contemporary Art, London; Armory Photography Art Fair 02, New York. YR1 Chanel4 competition, Photographers Gallery, London, the show travelled to Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, and Still Gallery Edinburgh. www.renatahegyi.co |
Image List
1. No 0 — 6th - 7th April 2020—Bottle with stripy fabric Just as this drama subsided, in 1549, plague broke out in the city. It was not a long or major outbreak, but it was enough to make everyone examine their skin uneasily and dread the sound of a cough. Bakewell, S. (2010) How to Live, A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer, p. 63. 2. No 01— 7th April 2020—Alone bottle + planning out rest of the drawings for Mocalondon_We You ask if I know you. Well, which person really knows another or even himself? As for me, I am not one who understands people at all. I understand dogs quite well, and also birds and cats—but I don’t really know you, sir. Hesse.H, (1956) Journey to the East, p. 58. Unwrapping a bottle. 3. No1— 7th - 8th April 2020—Fully wrapped. Words do not express thoughts very well; everything immediately becomes a little different, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another. Inexperience, I believe, will give little credence to my song. Hesse.H, (1956) Journey to the East, p 8. 4. No2— 9th -10th April 2020—Top fold is unwrapped. He wondered constantly about the emotions and motives behind what people did. He wondered just as much about himself. It was in real-life stories, he said, that you encountered human nature in all its complexity. You learned the ‘diversity and truth’ of man, as well as ‘the variety of the ways he is put together, and the accidents that threaten him.’ Bakewell, S. (2010), How to Live, A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer, pp. 4 and 66. 5. No3—10th - 11th April 2020—Second fold unwrapped. Faithful to our instructions, we lived like pilgrims and made no use of those contrivances which spring into existence in a world deluded by money, time and figures, and which drain life of all meaning; mechanical contrivances such as railways, watches and the like came chiefly into this category. Hesse. H, (1995), Journey to the East, p. 13. 6. No4—11th April 2020—Third fold. The earlier customs of peoples seem to send us a warning that in accepting what we receive so abundantly from nature we should guard against a gesture of avarice. For we are able to make Mother Earth no gift of our own. It is therefore fitting to show respect in taking, by returning a part of all we receive before laying hands on our share. Benjamin, W. (1979), One-Way Street and Other Writings, p. 60. 7. No5—12th April 2020—Fourth fold. We would write: ‘We eat a lot of walnuts’ and not: 'We love walnuts’, because the word ‘love’ is not a definite word, it lacks precision and objectivity. ‘To love walnuts’ and 'to love Mother’ don’t mean the same thing. The first expression designates a pleasant taste in the mouth, the second a feeling. Words that define feelings are very vague; it is better to avoid using them and stick to the description of objects, human beings and oneself; that is to say, to the faithful description of facts. Kristof, A.(2014), The Notebook, p. 27. 8. No6—13th April 2020—Fifth fold. Whether the shadow becomes our friend or enemy depends largely upon ourselves. The shadow becomes hostile only when he is ignored or misunderstood. Jung, C.G.,(1975), Man and his Symbols, pp. 172 and 182. 9. No7—14th April 2020—Sixth fold. he said of his memory. ‘ It serves me at its own time, not at mine.’ Any effort to haul something back on demand just drove the sought item further into the shadows. Montaigne was attuned to the kind of ‘involuntary’ memory that would one day fascinate Proust: those blasts from the past that irrupt unexpectedly into the present, perhaps in response to long-forgotten taste or smell. Bakewell, S. (2010), How to Live, A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer, pp. 71 and 72. 10. No8—15th - 16th April 2020—Seventh fold. The power of a country road is different when one is walking along it from when one is flying over it by airplane. In the same way, the power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. ...because the reader follows the movement of his mind in the free flight of day-dreaming, whereas the copier submits it to command. The Chinese practice of copying books was thus an incomparable guarantee of literary culture, and the transcript a key to China’s enigmas. Benjamin, W. (1979), One-Way Street and Other Writings, pp. 49 and 50. 11. No9— 21 - 22nd April 2020—Fully unwrapped. 'We are, I know not how, double within ourselves'. The discovery of self-divided consciousness. ...capturing that distinctive modern sense of being unsure where you belong, who you are, and what you are expected to do. Bakewell, S. (2010), How to Live, A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer, pp. 278 and 279. 12. No10— 23rd - 24th April 2020—Bottle and ribbon in snakelike waviness. But no account of David can prove to me that life is not just a game. That is just what life is when it is beautiful and happy —a game! Naturally, one can also do all kinds of other things with it, make a duty of it, or a battleground, or a prison, but that does not make it any prettier. Good-bye, please to have met you! Hesse.H, (1995), Journey to the East, p. 56. All images copyright and courtesy of the Artist. |