Another source of Kata's interest was orchards and medicinal herbs, two topics that lead us to the feminine quality. Since ancient times, nourishment and healing have been feminine tasks, which our ancestors attributed to the archetype of the Goddess – Mother Goddess. Over time, the goddesses who preceded the rule of male gods and embodied fertility and the inexhaustible power of nature to give new life for millennia were called Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Flora, or Demeter. In our time, this line of thought can be paralleled with the current issues of feminism and ecofeminism. For millennia, women were identified with nature and emotions, while men were identified with civilization and reason, and this correspondence became a tool for the oppression of women and then the target of feminist criticism. Other contemporary thinkers draw parallels between the exploitation of nature and women. Although these issues fundamentally concern the situation of women, there are many points of connection between them and issues of environmental protection and sustainability, because the problems of climate change cover an extremely broad spectrum, spanning the spheres of ecology, society, and the economy.
The current exhibition presents a selection of both past and recent works by the artist. In oil paintings and felt-tip pen drawings, the lush floral depictions draw on Koleszár's other source of inspiration - the ornamentation and animal imagery of Middle Eastern rugs, originally intended to evoke the garden. The earliest carpets we know of were made in arid climates where gardens were valued as places of life, rest, and tranquility. The central motifs of the carpets are depictions of roses, pomegranates, or almond leaves and trees, and one type of carpet is known as a garden bed. Another classical element is the palmette, which some researchers identify with the poppy seed, the raw material for opium, referring to transcendence and meditative religious contemplation. Tree imagery has also been interpreted as the tree of life, which in many religions and beliefs linked the earthly world to the afterlife, but was also a symbol of the garden of paradise. The tree can also represent man, standing on the earth but striving towards heaven. A separate group of animals, tigers, horses, birds, which also symbolized Paradise, but the dog and the rooster, for example, were symbols of protection. It is also worth mentioning that for the nomadic peoples who lived in tents and made the first carpets, the carpet was also a symbol of home.
Garden or landscape design emerged as an art form in both Eastern and Western cultures. The gardens of Egyptian and other ancient peoples are the first known gardens to be captured in fine art and literature. After the gardens of the Roman provinces, the first consciously designed gardens were established in Europe alongside medieval monasteries and castles. The medieval garden was divided into two parts, one (hortus sanitatis) for the cultivation of food and the other, the enclosed garden (hortus conclusus), a place of contemplative prayer. Still, the enclosed garden was used in numerous Christian depictions as a symbol of the Virgin Mary in labor. In later periods, successive stylistic periods have had different approaches to the composition of gardens around buildings or in public spaces. In the Eastern tradition, mention should also be made of the Zen Buddhist tradition of garden design, in which nature and man are not separated according to European concepts.
In European painting, floral still lifes carried allegorical meaning, but by the 19th century this tradition had disappeared, and still life became primarily a field for demonstrating technical mastery and offering visual delight. The narrower interpretive framework of Kata Koleszár’s paintings is contemporary art, within which the theme of the garden also plays a significant role. Ecological thinking, which emerged in the 1960s, (re)introduced nature into the field of visual arts. We can think here of the work of Joseph Beuys and Lois Weinberger, who reflected on nature also on a theoretical level, bringing plant elements into the genres of action and installation art. Yoko Ono’s work can also be mentioned, as she organized events in Japanese Zen temples during the 1960s. A remarkable example is Ono’s event in the garden of the Nanzenji Temple in Kyoto, which lasted from evening until dawn: her instruction to participants was to “look at the sky and touch it” during a beautiful, moonlit night. There are countless examples of artistic reflection on the natural environment in today’s art as well, since the issue has never been more urgent: representatives of the natural sciences now agree that global warming will fundamentally reshape our lifestyles and habits in order to ensure survival. Another significant point of reference for Koleszár’s practice is the American Pattern & Decoration movement. For them, “kitchens, carpet shops, wallpaper catalogues, wardrobes, Chinatown gift shops, textile wholesalers, and grandmothers’ bedrooms served as fresh sources of inspiration,” as critic and curator Michael Duncan wrote. Through their work, they created intellectual arcs connecting ancient cultures and continents, approaching decorative art and ornamentation from a conceptual perspective.
Looking back at the historical background, the garden was seen as a place of relaxation, where body and soul were both refreshed, and the life of plants was closely linked to the life of people. In traditional depictions, the garden is often framed by walls, with lush vegetation within the walls as a result of human labor, an image of cultivated nature. Today's meaning of the walled garden may be loneliness, the lonely person in society, a social phenomenon of the twentieth century, and one that has been given new depth by the Covid epidemic we have all experienced.
In Koleszár's interpretation, the garden and vegetation, in addition to solitude, also signify turning inwards and slowing down. The plants in her work depart from the earlier mentioned symbolism; she paints houseplants found in today's homes. A small piece of nature in our homes can generally represent the languor of the city dweller, or it can represent aesthetic value, but it can also be a symbol of care and relaxation. It is important to emphasize that Koleszár's works are not idealized or romanticized visions of 'primordial nature,' nor manifestations of a longing for a 'lost paradise.' Her illustrated plants are significant imprints of the post-industrial era, of the emerging posthuman world that critiques the anthropocene conception of nature. After the oil paintings and felt-tip pen drawings, the most recent group of works is the wall rugs, with which Koleszár returns to the world of carpets, the origin of her paintings. Although they are made by traditional hand crochet, their appearance is reminiscent of the pixel resolution of a screen, perhaps evoking the image of digitized nature, of biodomes.
The works are not negative and post-apocalyptic because the basic aim of Kata's art is to point out the nourishing and healing value of nature. Paintings and felt-tip pen drawings in green comprise a myriad of shades of green.
Green is an intense, positive energy, and it is no coincidence that in many cultures, it is associated with nature, with new beginnings. However, alongside green, a whole range of other colors unfolds, with blues, yellows, reds, and pinks taking their gaze into a forest of colors. In this tumult of colors and shapes, it is difficult to separate foreground and background, so that her works create a planar effect, harking back to the compositional world of carpets. This is reinforced by the deliberate mixing of perspectives, with several works showing potted plants from the side or above. The animals hiding among the plants, deer, lions, birds, provide a moving and playful experience, evoking the peaceful states of paradise, but also the sweet world of porcelain figurines. Their appearance is also symbolic; for example, the gatekeeper bear roars angrily at the evil that dares to approach him.
So let us enter the world of these works, let the colors and shapes penetrate the deeper levels of our consciousness. Let us look and contemplate among the paradisiacal images. Beneath the foliage, in the jungle of plants, we will find the path that has always been there, waiting to be trodden, which will lead us to a newfound unity through the inner journey. Perhaps this is the most important purpose of our human existence: to evolve, to transcend ourselves, to merge in the profound harmony of man and nature.
Krisztina Üveges, curator of the exhibition
