KETTŐS:PONT
Zoltán Kovács
“Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.” – Blaise Pascal
Instinctively, we assume that there is an immanent meaning lurking in the depths of things, which can be brought to the surface with enough work or time. This meaning is imperceptibly posited as a metaphysical essence - the meaning that explains everything that seems contingent or accidental, in hindsight. We think of our very human desire as common sense, as if pure logic requires that everything be revealed: we perceptualize order and knowledge as overlapping concepts. Clare et distincte, Kant said, and it is in his spirit that we set and follow clear laws to arrive at the point where The Meaning is revealed as the reward for our efforts.
Zoltán Kovács's geometric abstract sculpture has never lacked sacral overtones, but in his latest series they are even more prominent. Previously fascinated by the meeting points of connecting lines, in which he sought answers to the infinite, this time he has created spheres of triangular plates to reveal the inner shell structure. The intervention reveals that the Pascal shapes lack cores. Nor is he inadvertently claiming that the coveted meaning does not exist, but merely humbly acknowledging that there are no straight paths to the essence, even though the intersections are geometrically perfect. The shapes that emerge from the intersections can only hint at an inner meaning that can never be truly revealed because it crumbles away as it is plucked from the labyrinth of peer-like channels. Zoltán Kovács urges us to exercise restraint: not to try to get everything by force or trickery, but to give room to free interpretation, to the unknowable. In addition to metaphysical theorems, technical solutions are also important in the works, tricks derived from a knowledge of materials: the sensual beauty of the precisely polished edges, the translucent veins of trees stained in symbolic colours.
Kahan Art Space Budapest
opening: 14th Sept 2023, 6pm
opening by Tímea Fülöp, aesthete
view on: 14 Sept – 4 Nov 2023, from Tuesday to Saturday, 1pm - 6pm
Photocredit: ©Réka Hegyháti