Bertalan Varga’s solo exhibition, titled *Interlude*, is based on a systematic presentation of two groups of works created over the past three years.
The composition and formal development of the “barely formed” images—which comprised the material for the 2024 exhibition titled “Please Be Careful, the Doors Are Closing,” presented at the Neon Gallery — were inspired, among other things, by a mundane object: the rounded-corner glass panes framed by rubber rings used on the doors and windows of Metro Line 3. “Inspiration” isn’t quite the right word: it’s more a sudden sense of wonder at an everyday sight that has become so familiar as to be boring and unnoticed. The essence of the experience is that there are no static forms in and of themselves, and therefore every sight also signifies a departure. The meaning behind the title is more subtle than that; it is linked to William Blake’s famous lines from *The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
The images operate with subtle differences in color and sensation, often hovering on the edge of perceptibility. The artist intends the exhibition’s title to be both ironic and self-ironic, standing in slight contrast to the loud, clattering visual world — now ubiquitous — that is excessive and overflowing in every respect.
Another part of the works on display belongs to the “random structures” series, which has been in development since 2013 and combines multiple variations. Among them are images depicting bulging, crumpled forms and networks of lines, as well as works that use a rectangle as a module, varying its diagonals to create triangular and rhombus shapes. While they appear formally distinct, their focus is entirely the same. This formed the backbone of last year’s exhibition titled “Stones in the Net.”