László László Révész

László László Révész

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In the dark toned oil-paintings of László László Révész, the montage of superimposed figures and objects, painted on one another, are calling in mind the story of an American gangster thriller that is compressed in two or three quintessential scenes. His paintings of only one or two figures do not lack action either, but are deeply intimate, rather simple paintings, depicting emotions. All of them recall the nature of a still picture from a familiar script or movie, where the premise or the continuation are for the spectator to imagine freely. When reading the titles of his paintings, the narrative of the scenery is also revealed, hence these pictures seemingly meet the criteria of the traditional framework of painting.

However, a contradiction emerges between visual appearance and content: on the paintings of László László Révész, one cannot find the representation of mechanic reality, rather memories or visions are manifesting, as inner illustrations. His paintings can be placed on the border of reality and phantasm that accord to the images surfacing from the depth of consciousness. This could be denoted by the fragmented parts, the mysterious contrasts of lights and shadows, and the melancholia generated by all these, that can arouse the feelings of known and unknown, intimate and frightening all at once. The strangeness of images that have been laying snug in the subconscious, but surfaced suddenly, call in mind Freud’s term of spookiness.

By looking at Révész’s pictures, we can have an insight into the art of inner pictures and experience the revealing function of art itself. The pictures are gradually filled with initially imperceptible privacy: while wandering in the broad space of the “interpretation field”, many familiar and ghostly images can overcome us.

Luca Keserű