Kókay Krisztina (Esztergom, 2005)
MARIA PROKOPP In the time of celebration Ferenczy Noémi prize winner textile artist Krisztina Kókay is an exemplary patriot of Esztergom. Although she has been living in the capital for several decades, Esztergom is still the nearest to her heart and her art is rooted in the thousand years old center of the thousand years old Hungary. A clear evidence of this was given last Christmas, when the millennial tapestry St. Stephen and his work was unveiled in the Basilica on the occasion of the millennium of the crowning of our state-builder king. Krisztina Kókay participated in the making of this splendid work. The tapestry is now a pride of the Christian Museum. Visitors from all corners of the world admire the masterpiece depicting expressively the secrets of the thousand years old history of our country. Among the many beautiful details contributed by Krisztina Kókay, let's recall the portraits of St. Stephen, Gizella and St. Imre situated on both sides above the Cloaked Mary holding the Holy Crown. They are the guiding stars of our country and of our city even today. Krisztina Kókay evokes these extraordinary characters - as known from the thousand years old coronation mantle - with an exceptional artistic force. Having experienced the splendor of that tapestry, we have come to the exhibition of the new works with great expectations. The invitation card showed a reproduction of Holiday - 2000, a 3m high, decoratively composed woven fabric, which has arrived to us straight from the International Exhibition of Tapestries, where it was put on show in the first hall among the chief works. If everyone present could tell his thoughts about this work of art, placed deservedly again among the chief works, it would reveal a wonderful wealth of ideas. And that is, actually, the point of having exhibitions: to bring the works in personal contact with the people they were made for. But, for a lack of time, let me put into words the artistic message as I perceived it instead of the "dialogue" of the several different perceptions. The principal voice of this work is sounded by the two touching vertical stripes of vivid blue tones, bordered by straight lines, in which the horizontal stripes of the different shades of blues and beiges flow in a dynamic rhythm. The effect is that of cheerfulness, harmony, or, in one word, festivity. To me it also means that for a celebration you need a close connection, understanding and love between two people, who, though never exactly the same and whose life rhythms might be completely different, are still in kinship with each other - juts like the colors on this work. Their lives are confined by straight lines; they lead disciplined, orderly lives. This does not simply happen to one: real joy, the essence of a holiday, has to be built up, has to be striven for! This is indicated in the enigmatic, fainter ornamental forms that serve as a background for the two stripes, emerging from the tight weave of the fabric. Extremely delicate lines shape the outlines of two figures: a man and a woman. On the right side, two fine transversal lines seem to represent part of an arm stretched out by force. This suggests to me the idea that to be able to celebrate, to feel the harmony, we have to feel the tension first: for release and "salvation", we have to crucify the more selfish part of our personalities... And we could follow this train of thought. The other chief work at this exhibition is the Mantle. The 210 by 460cm twin work hand-painted on linen is a design for a woven tapestry inspired by the world-famous Coronation Mantle made in our country in 1031. This national relic, delicate silk embroidered with golden thread, is covered with figures representing a profound theological concept. It is probably a visual reproduction of the words and thoughts in Te Deum, the Church's hymn of thanksgiving. Krisztina Kókay gave a new life to this relic for the millennium last year. Keeping the shape of the Mantle, she evokes the past thousand years in its vertical axis with mysterious figurái compositions, while on the two sides, along the horizontal weft lines, she turns towards the Hungarians of the 21st century with rows of letters: messages from the masterpieces of Hungarian poetry. The Old Hungarian lamentation of Mary and several archaic folk prayers from the collection of Zsuzsanna Erdélyi can be read on the left side of one of the Mantles. Bálint Balassa's masterwork, The praise of the borderland and two poems, Greeting and Angel from heaven by Sándor Márai are visible on the right side. The latter one burst out in New York from the heart of the greatest immigrant of the 20th century Hungarian literature, one of those whom Krisztina Kókay especially admires, as an apotheosis of the Hungarian freedom-fight of 1956. The sky has torn / because the people said, Enough of it! / Angel, take the news from heaven: / There will always rise a new life from blood.
