Central European Research
Institute for Art History

GRÓF Ferenc Somewhere between 0 and 1 (Hungarian National Painting Grey), 2016–2023

The Artworks

enamel panel, 85 x 100 cm

The grid structure seen on the enamel panel is formed by a circulating, undulating transitional pattern of forms morphing between 0 and 1. The resulting shapes are at times angular, or, in other instances, tapering or rounded, but never quite taking on the full form of those two numbers. The work is directly connected to the face of the sundial presented at the Kiscell Museum’s exhibition entitled Without Index (2016),[1] alluding to the state of uncertainty that characterises the city described in Tibor Déry’ s novel Mr. A.G. in X (1964), which served as a reference point of the exhibition. In this fictional city, all exists in a state of constant oscillation between the nothingness of Zero and the certainty of One, creating a grey area that forever changes its boundaries. From this perspective, it is perhaps not surprising that the title—and basic colour—of the enamel work invokes the artist’s 2012 piece entitled State of Shades, found in the Contemporary Collection of the Hungarian National Gallery.[2] At KEMKI, the “colour average” of the latter work—having been determined by digitally blending the colours of paintings held at the Hungarian National Gallery, in the “interpretation” of the Bonyhád artists—is given a slight tint of military green.   

The web of references connected to this minimalist and reduced visual world can be widened: from the programming of (black and white) image digitalisation, through concrete poetry, to even such individual examples as Endre Tót’s enamel panels with all the zeros. [3] In the context of the work from the Contemporary Collection, however, it is worth recalling the tabulated structures of “era-specific” colour samplings, and of subsequent attempts to track and trace these in the form of textile and enamel patterns (as in the case of Ádám Albert’s “portfolio”).

[1] Mutató nélkül | B. A. úr X-ben [Without Index |Mr A. B. in X]. Exhibition by Ferenc Gróf, Budapest History Museum, Kiscell Museum – Municipal Gallery, 29 October 2016–15 January 2017, curated by József Mélyi and Enikő Róka. URL: https://fovarosikeptar.hu/kiallitasok-2016-ban-templomter/mutato-nelkul-b-a-ur-x-ben-grof-ferenc-kiallitasa/. Catalogue: Mutató nélkül. B. A. úr X-ben [Without Index: Mr A.B. in X]. Ed. Enikő Róka, Budapest History Museum, Budapest, 2017.

[2] Societé Realiste: State of Shades / Magyar Nemzeti Festészet Szürke, 2012, photo, diasec, 1600 x 2000 mm, Inv. No.: MM.2016.6., URL: https://mng.hu/mutargyak/state-of-shades-magyar-nemzeti-festeszet-szurke/

[3] E.g. TÓTal Zer0 I-VI, 1975-1977, enamel on metal plate, 22 x 17 cm (each). The works were—among others—included in Endre Tót’s 2012 exhibition (Very Special Joys: Retrospective 1971-2011) held at the MODEM in Debrecen.

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