István Dukai, a self-taught artist who has recently burst into the public consciousness, will present his latest works in a solo exhibition entitled Interference. The young artist’s visual world has been influenced by art movements and their representatives, such as constructivism, concrete art, minimal art, op-art and the Bauhaus.
The materials, processes and colours are the hallmarks of the work of many artists. But this is particularly true of Dukai, whose art lends strength to even the most humble everyday materials. His work is characterised by craftsmanship, tactility and a remarkable use of unconventional materials. Dukai does not use a brush, but intervenes in other ways with forgotten materials full of stories: burlap, rusted steel sheets. In addition, his practice reinterprets the traditional frameworks of classical graphic techniques such as silkscreen, collography and woodcut.
His work combines the sensuality of fine art with the complexity of architecture and a systematic approach to design. His professional knowledge of materials leads him to experiment boldly with them, and exciting material combinations culminate in a constructivist visual world of subdued colour and culminate in finished works.
Dukai’s best-known material is natural hand-woven linen, used in peasant cultures and tanned with plants collected by the artist, which he transforms into images using various graphic techniques, printing technology and traditional fabric painting processes. He cuts, tears and sews the canvas, which he obtains from country houses and antique dealers, making it simultaneously a material, a medium and a subject. Black bands of varying thickness are applied on this surface, which follow or intersect each other in clean geometric shapes. In his work, sharply geometric shapes and curved lines alternate, and these interfering motifs create illusions, ambiguity and a sense of movement and flicker. He then subjects the materials to a traditional tanning process, which he boils in a large cauldron with ripe elderberries, stalked oak fruit, coffee grounds and black tea leaves. After drying, the creations reach their final, coloured, mature form.
The works on show at the Apollo Gallery are based around a new technique of collage, a technique of mixing different materials, which first appeared in the creative practice in 2024. By juxtaposing found iron sheets and canvas materials, the layered appearance of the works blurs the boundaries between painting, relief and sculpture.
Dukai’s poetic works can also be seen as a manifestation of the inherent beauty of natural, ephemeral materials, but behind them lies a rigorous compositional structure that contrasts with the mundane transience of the chosen media and hints at the art historical influences already mentioned.
Zita SÁRVÁRI
