Sunday Salon 15

The curatorial and editorial project for systems, non-objective and reductive artists working in the UK

Sunday Salon 15 | Árpád Forgó

7 November 2021, 1:00pm to 5:00pm

"The works of Árpád Forgó (…) follow dimensionalist rules, although they never reveal directly whether they are paintings brushing the borderline of sculptures or they are more like sculptures leaning toward to paintings, and thus his compositions may perplex the viewer. At first glance, Forgó's artistic activity could be best associated with minimalism, based on the historical examples mentioned earlier. He builds on reduction, works with few elements, and clings to the non-figurative world, yet he does not return to the forms of minimal art, he does not counterbalances his crystallized canvases with the colours used by pop art. His works are fresh, and have a contemporary character, his colours are varied and they also avoid direct abstraction.

However, there is something that implies that Forgó continues the tradition of his predecessors. Already in the 1980s, but even today, the shaped canvas has represented a kind of development for the artists discussed earlier, a process full of experimentation. They are not tied to guidelines, and, as a result, it is difficult for them to find their place in art history due to their uniqueness. Forgó's world of forms also seems sovereign: it reveals a liberated, sensual world even amidst spatial games, but along strict structures. His works mostly undertake the reinterpretation of tactility and perception. And his special signature is the result of a concentrated, active maturation." - Flóra Mészáros, art historian

From the book Árpád Forgó: Modular Compositions 2015-2020

Saturation Point presents Árpád Forgó’s first solo show in London, and exhibits his latest shaped canvas works from the Diagonal Compositions series.

Árpád Forgó is interested in experimental painting, in broadening the interpretation of non-figurative panel painting, and in exploring the borderline between painting and sculpture. His shaped canvas works are built using his predefined modular system, in which structure, shape, measurements and rhythm, as well as the planar and spatial relationships, are the focus of his research. He is intensively experimenting with materials in order to create different surfaces that characterise each of the works.

Supported by the National Cultural Fund of Hungary, Liszt Institute - Hungarian Cultural Centre, London.

See below for a shortened review of Árpád Forgó’s work by Flóra Mészáros, art historian.