Kókay Krisztina (Esztergom, 2005)
A Seal on Blank Drawing Paper The formidable white surface of the, large-sized, environmentally friendly, smooth paper is the base and the starting point. In the top right corner of the paper there is a circular emblem of the trademark bulging like a mysterious seal or a signature felt only by touch. The elliptical symbol and the circular row of letters are the only marks on the even surface of the paper. Krisztina Kókay starts working on that surface, which is marked in a barely visible way. She uses hard, sharpened graphite pencils (from 3H to 5H which make scratching sounds) or black India ink. The series of small touches and gestures (like fine contacts, words, footsteps, voices, letters, the clatter of a typewriter or the tapping of a pencil) add up to the final result, the drawing itself. Such almost monotonously recurring marks cover the paper - sensitively and with sensual density. On occasion, huge parts of the drawing paper remain untouched, at other times the pencil and pen strokes, i.e. the drawing occupies the whole surface. It makes one ponder whether the untouched portion of the drawing paper or the already conquered and illustrated area deserve more attention. The folds, tears and segments on the surface of the drawings create a unique territory where the tiny details and detailed fragments are cut up and proportioned by characteristic, brave fractures, outstanding hiatuses and chasms forming borderlines or links. The white drawing paper abounds with thousands of lines and gestures. PALÁST II. • MANTLE II. • 1999 PAPÍR, TOOLRAJZ • PAPER, INK • 18,5X33,5 CM About Drawing Every creation of Fine Arts is based on drawing. No age or artistic style can be without it. Graphic art is the most genuine form of artistic expression. It is exciting to observe an artist's drawings. "Drawings and sketches made in the first zeal of feverish creative urge can reveal the artist's personality to a greater extent than large-sized canvases" (ROSNER). Graphic art starts where the beauty of the form asserts itself for it's own sake. The message is not composed by the outline or by the foundation, but it is a complete unit of which one cannot take away, nor can one add to it. Graphic art is one of the most diversified mysteries of fine art. The Mountain, the Tower, the Bell, the Wall, and the Garden The meticulous drawings generated from details reveal Kókay's fine, sensitive character and particular female problems. The following title of one of her works alludes to the artist's contemplation: "But how can the tower bear it?.. .What are the bells saying to Him?" This behavior is typical of Kókay herself, her hidden ambitions, desires and suppressed thoughts as well as the work itself.
