Kókay Krisztina (Esztergom, 2005)

On the other Mantle we can read the admonitions of St. Stephen, which have formed the basis of legislation in our country for a thousand years. They have really served the survival of our nation as a protective mantle. Together with Krisztina Kókay, we would like to hope that the precepts of our saint, state-builder king would interweave our life in the new millennium as well. Apart from the above-mentioned Holiday, there's one more tapestry on show at the exhibition, Lofty Castle, an earlier work. The Lofty Castle is a sacred place! It is a keeper of profound secrets. And it strains upwards, in the direction of the ever lighter and brighter sky blue. The lines, the rows of the fabric suddenly stop here, enfolding a hollow negative space, a clear white surface: the unspeakable, the most sacred! Moses met God on the top of the mountain.

PALÁST • MANTLE • 2000

KÉZZELFESTETT LENVÁSZON • HAND PAINTED ■ 210X460 CM

Among the mostly non-figurative graphical works, tapestry designs, there is a "real" portrait, of Bálint Balassa. How fresh, how humane that face is on Kókay's drawing! We see the artist praising life, we see the great patriot who sacrificed his life for our nation here, under the Castle, more than 400 years ago. I wish there would be such a likeness of Him in the heart of all who live in Esztergom, standing for "an example for humanity and a model for valor" for evermore...

The ars poetica of Krisztina Kókay's art reads on the invitation card as follows: "My lines are sets of words, sentences and emotions; they are messages coming from afar, experiences of the present and of the distant past; they are introspection: listening to the inner voice, to the inner throbbing, to the mystery waiting to be solved - the secret of Creation: where is that place where Love is hidden."

All of her works speak about that.

OPENING SPEECH, BALASSA MÚZEUM, ESZTERGOM, 8. JUNE 2001