The first Hungarian debut exhibition of the young Hungarian artist of Aboriginal origin, Tiarna Herczeg, is a special and defining moment not only for the artist and the Apollo Gallery, but also for contemporary Hungarian art.
Proud of both her Hungarian and Australian Aboriginal origins, the works on display here by the artist share this dual identity and the rich cultural and spiritual knowledge it represents. Of the 250 Aboriginal peoples of Australia, Tiarna is a member of the Kuku Yalanji/Kuku Nyungkul Warra tribe, which originates from North Queensland, the most biodiverse rainforest on Earth. Her people’s close connection with the land and nature is evident in Tiarna’s large-scale paintings that demand immediate attention.
“I grew up spiritually and culturally rich and that deeply impacts who I am as a person and my work by extension.”
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“As a little girl I was taught Aboriginal lore about the land and our belief system which is founded on “ We don’t own the land, the land owns us”, It is true. We are at the mercy of mother nature. We are environmentalists, my people. You cannot keep taking from the land and not giving anything back because the land holds memories and hears us.”
By their sheer size, her paintings evoke a sense of wonder, making them not just works of art, but experiential phenomena. When the viewer encounters Tiarna’s large-scale paintings, they are not simply received, but are an ever-present experience.
“Overall the subject comes from a deep listening, total exploration. When I’m painting I am totally in the zone, so much so it’s like meditation. I drift away from myself and images flash into my mind , places I have visited, lived in or dreamt of. I usually see them from above, as if I’m floating over them and looking down. I paint the shapes I see and the feelings they have. All places have a feeling, sometimes the feeling is bad and the air is heavy. I always leave those places. But most of the time the places are warm, or cold and bring you some clarity.”
The artist, who says she works obsessively in her studio every day, often for hours on end, hungry and thirsty, condenses her feelings and experiences into abstract works.
Tiarna’s paintings completely envelop us. We feel like we are in an indefinable space that physically affects us, that engulfs and absorbs us. The use of form, the sometimes luminous, sometimes deep shades, the simplicity of the wide and thin fields of colour, are able to speak to the deepest philosophical themes of ecstasy and sublimity.
Zita SÁRVÁRI
