Péter Türk
Untitled
Artist
Péter Türk
(1943, Pestszenterzsébet - 2015, Budapest), Hungarian
Original Title
Untitled
Date1970
Mediumink resin based paint on canvas
Dimensions97 × 118 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionPéter Türk was one of the most important artists of the Hungarian neo-avantgarde, which rejected traditional painting and pursued new means of creative expression. Türk’s artistic practice is characterized by a fusion of conceptual and sensitive approaches in experimental, non-figurative works. While his early works were in the vein of lyrical abstraction, in the mid-1960s he shifted toward organic abstraction and organic-surrealist forms and symbols. Between 1969 and 1970, his work became dominated by an analytic-conceptual approach based on combinatorics and repetition; these pieces evidence an interest in semiotics and the repetition of symbols and signs (?, X, !). In his Question Mark happenings and land art pieces, Türk aimed to pose questions using symbols. These questions, related to themes of life, death, belief, eternity, and art, placed the viewer at the center of the associative process. Later, Türk began creating conceptual photographic works in which he analyzed the relations between light and shadows as well as light and reality. He also produced montages critiquing contemporary Hungarian politics and negative human values. Türk’s late work comprised objects and digital images incorporating the compositional structure of bricks, which he saw as an elementary particle facilitating movement in three-dimensional space.
Untitled (1970) dates from Türk’s period of experimentation with the structures of lines, during which he created works comprising vertical lines and dots arranged in continuous rows, reminiscent of Morse code, balancing between emptiness and filling the pictorial space. In his smaller coal drawings, Türk aimed to find the ideal balance between these two extremes, an equilibrium between an area and a line. He would subsequently use India ink to translate these works to the canvas, where the distribution of lines was less dense, strengthening the contrast between the round dots and the longitudinal lines.
Péter Türk (1943, Pestszenterzsébet – 2015, Budapest) studied at the Fine Arts Grammar School of Budapest from 1957 to 1961. From 1964 onward, he studied art and Hungarian language and literature at the pedagogical school in Eger, eventually joining the Hungarian neo-avantgarde art scene. During the 1970s, he produced numerous series which placed him the most prominent figures of geometric and structural art in Hungary. From 1970 to 1972, he partook in the legendary summer exhibitions at a chapel in Balantooglár which brought together artists from Hungary’s underground neo-avantgarde scene. Türk’s associatively conceived series explored the psychology of vision and the logical relation between the images of memories and their portrayal. In 1989, following a spiritual experience, he converted to Catholicism. This momentous life event led him to temporarily stop creating art, instead studying Christian mysticism. His work from the subsequent years explores the question of transcendence. Türk died in 2015, at the age of 72. In 2018, the Ludwig Museum in Budapest hosted an extensive posthumous retrospective exhibition of his work.
Untitled (1970) dates from Türk’s period of experimentation with the structures of lines, during which he created works comprising vertical lines and dots arranged in continuous rows, reminiscent of Morse code, balancing between emptiness and filling the pictorial space. In his smaller coal drawings, Türk aimed to find the ideal balance between these two extremes, an equilibrium between an area and a line. He would subsequently use India ink to translate these works to the canvas, where the distribution of lines was less dense, strengthening the contrast between the round dots and the longitudinal lines.
Péter Türk (1943, Pestszenterzsébet – 2015, Budapest) studied at the Fine Arts Grammar School of Budapest from 1957 to 1961. From 1964 onward, he studied art and Hungarian language and literature at the pedagogical school in Eger, eventually joining the Hungarian neo-avantgarde art scene. During the 1970s, he produced numerous series which placed him the most prominent figures of geometric and structural art in Hungary. From 1970 to 1972, he partook in the legendary summer exhibitions at a chapel in Balantooglár which brought together artists from Hungary’s underground neo-avantgarde scene. Türk’s associatively conceived series explored the psychology of vision and the logical relation between the images of memories and their portrayal. In 1989, following a spiritual experience, he converted to Catholicism. This momentous life event led him to temporarily stop creating art, instead studying Christian mysticism. His work from the subsequent years explores the question of transcendence. Türk died in 2015, at the age of 72. In 2018, the Ludwig Museum in Budapest hosted an extensive posthumous retrospective exhibition of his work.
