Opening: November 14, 2024, 6:00 p.m.
Opening speakers: János Sturcz, art historian, Ildikó Várnagy, sculptor
Venue: Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Barcsay Hall (1062, Budapest, Andrássy út 69-71.)
Viewing period: 15th November – 14th December 2024, on weekdays and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Visual designer: Judit Csanádi
Visual identity: Zsuzsanna Mészáros
Curator: Barna Szuda

In 1990, the artistic journey of Zoltán Tölg-Molnár, who sadly passed away this year at the age of eighty, reached a pivotal moment. Departing from the methods offered by traditional painting, he began working almost exclusively with paper, more specifically cellulose. His attention then turned to the possibilities of creating relief-like "picture objects" through paper casting and paper sculpture. In a 1999 letter, he expressed his reasons for choosing this unique medium: "For nearly a decade, crushed paper, paper pulp, has been my creative partner, allowing me to knead, shape, paste, and colour it. I rely on the memory of the material, which can display and preserve those moments of ours that might be considered talented."

This extraordinary technique, which developed in the early 1970s in the United States, had no followers in Hungary for a long time. However, in the 1990s, the idea that paper could not only be the carrier of the work but also the medium, or even the artwork itself, became popular here as well. The Tihany '90 exhibition not only showcases the works of Tölg-Molnár Zoltán but also features paper-based art created by István Bodóczky and Tamás Körösényi during the same period. The careers of these three artists are intertwined not only through their intellectual kinship, i.e. their shared belief in the medium, but also by the Tihany art colony, where all three actively engaged in both artistic creation and teaching.

During the research for the exhibition, hundreds of private photographs were collected. Most of the pictures capture the day-to-day life within the art colony. These genre scenes show former teachers and students engaged in activities such as creating, flying kites, playing football, cooking, and other activities. The archival photographs are continuously posted on the social media pages created under the name Tihanyi Művésztelep.

The exhibition is supported by the Nemzeti Kulturális Alap and the Hungária Pezsgő.