Eau de Couleurs

In some of Ovid’s works, perfume becomes equal to an aromatic potion, while some myths and legends endowed primitive perfumes with the similar importance of blood – until the dawn of the 19th century subsisted the idea that perfumes were of intensively serious effect on vital functions.

Due to the revolution of chemistry and synthetic molecules, the universe of perfumes has definitely diverged from the tight ligaments that united it with the animal and human body. Still the ‘mystery’ surrounding this world remains quite vivid, especially in point of the spiritual and emotional ‘effect’ of it. Scent’s forceful power on human is undoubted – it has numerous facets, from being helpful in the evocation of cherished memories to being an absolutely perfect manipulative instrument.

Várfok Gallery’s next group exhibition undertakes the singular unfolding of the complex universe of perfumes and scents: the exhibition attempts the artistic and visual deployment of perfume along a definite contexture. Has cooperated with Várfok Gallery in the elaboration of the conception of Eau de Couleurs, preparing and helping the orientation of the artists, perfumer Zsolt Zólyomi.

The painters and sculptors asked to cooperate for this exhibition encountered therefore an unusual context, as next to visual factors, olfactive ones played a role in the process, promoting the particular fusion of the two fields.

A fundamental point of the exhibition to underline is that the use of the words perfume and scent is based on their original, traditional meaning, i.e. it is based on their authentic characteristics. Another ‘essential quality’ to also considerate is evanescence, insomuch as one of the quintessences of scent and perfume is passing: their reaction with time is inevitable, which also engenders continuous change.

As an illustration of this train of thought, as a sort of allegory of the topic of passing and of evanescence, perfumer Zsolt Zólyomi defined a perfume series, and one in particular in the process of creation of which he took part, hence providing for the artists – completed with verbal guidance – an olfactive ’basic material’. The here mentioned scent, created by the P. Frapin et Cie company, is Frapin 1697, which did indeed enrich the process of creation with an olfactive experience, but served more as a ’palpable allegory’ on the road leading the the intangible and invisible world of perfumery than as a concrete source of inspiration.

The artists taking part in the exhibition – László Győrffy (1976), Levente Herman (1976), Ádám Hollós (1984), Réka Jahoda (1985), Botond Keresztesi (1987), Marcell Németh (1982), Benjámin Pelcz (1988), Ágnes Podmaniczky (1983), István Szántó (1978), Márton Emil Tóth (1988) – expressly formalize deeply subjective impulses for the exhibition. From a material point of view, the use of most various media is to be discovered through ten radically different possibilities for interpretation.