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Why did I choose this Janus-faced genre? Why do I do everything by myself? Is it because it was love at first sight, a love which has held me continuously since the age of fourteen? A love which binds me to this ‘one with two faces’, one who is celebratory and anachronistic, one who is able to give wings to the imagination while at the same time exercising the brain.
Our love calmed down to a marriage way back, but the long cohabitation has taught me many things: accurate design, carefulness, and discipline. I already know that one cannot miss out a step when inexperienced: things have an order to them and the rules are strict. The different stages are given, and it is the canon itself that governs. At the same time, after many years spent together they are still surprises.
The with-child time for every work is long, and premature birth is impossible. The frequencies develop into a picture in the course of many months. And a distinctive way of life takes shape, one which is about only the two of us. It is about intimacy, the productive power of tranquillity, the sensual joy of handling the coloured threads, and sometimes suffering, namely, about the Sisyphean-like task and the acceptance of heavy physical work on a daily basis. For me, the process of creation takes places in real time and yet is outside time also; the end result is timelessness. Tapestry weaving is organic, like life itself. Every day is an ordinary day. Every day is a holiday.
- A symbol of Power (the Lion) and Wisdom (the Owl) -
Hungary, like the infant Bacchus himself, was surely brought up in Arcadia. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, did what he could. I, for my part, have been able to serve the ‘great cause’ by reformulating, in accordance with how things stand today, a detail taken from the middle field of the original tapestry’s upper bordure. In other words, I support and encourage. My paraphrase is patriotic. I wove a small lion naturally – since this, too, is a symbol of power –, in such a way that it looks gravely at the viewer, its eyes red and its mouth closed, but with its claws ready for use at any time. Next to the lion is a wise owl, with dreamy green eyes and respectable white feathers. Red and green eyes glow among shades of white. The wire framework of the vegetation discreetly depicts the Hungarian tricolour; later on in Arcadia, when the sun shines on it, this vegetation will grow greener and more luxuriant. The weaving of the spectacle is technical bravura only in part; it is at the same time content also.