MOLNÁR, Sándor
Painter, Sculptor
(Sajólád,19th January, 1936)
1950-1954: High School of Fine and Applied Arts, teacher: László Ridovics. 1955-1961: College of Fine Arts of Budapest, masters: János Kmetty, László Bencze, Géza Fónyi, and Bertalan Pór. 2005: Kossuth Award. János Kmetty meant the most to Molnár, in both professional and humane terms. He founded the so-called Zuglói Kör at his flat in 1958. Together with its other members, for instance Imre Bak, István Nádler, and Pál Deim, he pursued theoretical and painting studies in relation to modern art. With a self-training process they analyzed each other’s works. Molnár wrote his theoretical and methodological work entitled Festői elemek analízise /The Analysis of the Elements of Painting/ in 1962. He worked for a year at the Colony of Artists located in Kecskemét. He became acquainted with Béla Hamvas, with whom he built up a strong acquaintanceship relation. He was introduced to Bazaine Jean and the group of Traditionalist young painters in Paris in 1965. In 1966 he developed his painter-yoga theory. In 1982 Molnár became acquainted with Claude Viallat and the Supports/Surfaces group. He was a guest lecturer at the Fine Arts College of Nimes in 1986, then a college lecturer at the College of Fine Arts of Budapest from 1990. He received the Munkácsy Award in 1992 and became the member of the Széchenyi Literary and Arts Academy in 1993. During the end of the 1950’s he developed a self-improvement program, the steps of which were: 1. Understanding of the artistic endeavors of the period through practicing painting, 2. Acquisition and translation of the writings of contemporary global painting, and finally 3. Acquainting oneself with the avant-garde artists of his generation such as Tihamér Gyarmathy, Tamás Lossonczy, Ferenc Martyn, and Béla Veszelszky. He studied Buddhism and Yoga in 1955 and began painting abstract paintings in 1956. He started out from the mode of formation typical of French Lyrical Abstraction, the pictorial transformation of a natural motif; the different forms become connected to one another, and thus transform one another. He labeled the process itself permeation. The method became the creative technique of the Zuglói Kör. He held his first exhibition at the Mednyányszky Hall in Budapest in 1966, which was a summarization of his lyrical abstraction period. This was followed by the Unikolor /Uni-color/ period, up until 1969, the name of which was given to it by by János Kmétty. Molnár referred to his series of monochrome paintings as empty images. He researches how color steams of rolling, floating forms are capable of producing a sense of spatial depth. His period of preparation ended in 1969. He developed his paint-yoga, through the metaphorical application of the four ancient elements and the formulas of alchemy. This was when his aspiration to produce modern Eastern European art matured. He made use of the theory of Béla Hamvas, of the geniality of the Hungarian landscape in the stipulation of the spirituality of Eastern Europe. The empty paintings were substituted by works, which transposed the natural spectacle through geometrical structuring, which he identified with the Earth element. This was when he prepared his Principium-sorozat /Principium-series/, the Earth-operation lasted up until 1977. Between 1978 and 1980 in parallel with the aspirations of the French Supports/Surfaces group he renounced the use of paint. He filled his frames with ropes, canvases, pieces of wood, and made those into images with the help of such elements. The Water-operation began in 1980 and lasted for an entire decade. His series entitled Metamorfózis-sorozat /Metamorfózis-series/ spanned between the two operations. The use of organic forms multiplied in his paintings, and by the end of the decade the number of motifs filled with specific meanings grew and grew. He identified the Water-operation with the world of myth, which was, according to his standpoint, closely connected to the subconscious, and the world of instincts. The different cycles of paint-yoga cannot be separated sharply from one another, thus the Fire element appeared during the middle of the decade. The first period is that of calcination, the cleansing of the spirit, the pictorial forms of the battles fought with the inner powers recall the actual flaring of the flames. The motifs force open the square confines of the paintings and run up onto the walls surrounding them. The Tumo-sorozat /Tumo series/ (Tumo being the fire of the inner spirit, is the proof trial of yogis in Tibetan mysticism) spans Molnár’s through the fire period. The second operation is that of reduction. The pictures lose the element of unchained flaming passion; the place of the baroquely racing motifs is taken over by settled clear forms. The third phase was that of sublimation: the picturing of quiet dieing out of the flames. The central structuring of the paintings typical up until then was superseded by the placement of central points along the power lines of the images. Geometrical forms appeared at the crystallizing points. The next phase was the spiritual realm of the crystal, where the constant order of numbers and geometry prevailed. The road to fulfillment, towards emptiness, leads through the spiral crystal. Molnár is presently within his crystal phase and hopes that he will reach the crowning of his art, emptiness, which he identifies with the element of air. He wishes to reach images devoid of object or form, filled with restless unperceivable, constantly flowing, and inexhaustible void. During his fire period he produced a significant plastic collection. His sculptures are composed of found objects such as bones, pieces of plaster, artificial leather, sponge, all of which he makes unified by covering them with an artificial leather coating.
