Wehner Tibor - Bodonyi Emőke (szerk.): Miafene. 40 éves a Szentendrei Vajda Lajos Stúdió (Szentendre, 2013)
SUMMARY At the time of its foundation, as one of the most important alternative artist group, officially active since 1972, Lajos Vajda Studio in Szentendre has attracted and influenced through decades all the artists searching for new ways of expression. Its free spirit was formed not only by the members, but also by the artists invited, and VLS is present even today in art life. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its foundation the display of the ArtMill in Szentendre focuses on the works made in the decade following the former jubilee exhibition of 2002 with 37 artists invited, among them the representatives of the youngest generation. The spirit of the beginnings is shown in the retrospective of the cellar of Lajos Vajda Studio. The authors of the catalogue tried to characterize the activity of the VLS stressing its different aspects. Tibor Wehner’s study Everything is Quite Different - What the Blazes is searching for the reason of the relatively long existence of the VLS, dealing with the social differences of the foundation time and the period following 1989. The different historical situation has changed the progressive spirit of the early period, and this is hardly definable. The Szentendre milieu surrounding the artists of VLS has also changed: museums presenting the heritage of certain artists were founded, decades passed till the opening of the collective exhibition of the art of Szentendre, the building of ArtMill Modern and Contemporary Art Centre still has an unfinished section. After a time part of the VLS artists has left Szentendre, they settled down in different parts of the country, and together with this the artistic ideals have also changed. Like the early activity of the Studio, its present phenomenon is characterized by a plurality of styles, a unity of differences among the branches of art, varieties of forms, techniques, materials. The different stylistic trends - neo-dada, surrealism, expressivism, constructivism and neoprimitivism, rock - new wave - punk culture, visual and theoretical absurdity, social grotesque and irony have widened with classicizing tendencies as a result of the artistic product suited in to art history. Endre Szkárosi’s piece called Standing in Space - Aspects of the Judgement of the Historical Role of VLS has clearly defined the Studio’s role in the artistic scene of its time. György Galántai’s chapel studio in Balatonboglár which has built itself from the new avantgarde tradition of the second half of the sixties, and VLS starting in 1972 were the two bases, which highlighted the artistic freedom and its openness against the rigid and outdated canons of the institutional order of its time, and often spontaneously the undeniable importance of taking on the European developments. VLS had an important role in the blooming of the later defined as alternative artistic scene in Hungary. Among members of the Studio were all scales of the artistic community with many different additions to their painting activity. VLS’s legacy has been characterized in the last few decades not only by its creating several noteworthy exhibitions and having great artworks made in its circle, demonstrating a point of view out of the mainstream, and making it undeniably the part of the contemporary Hungarian art - making it possible by creating a Studio school. It made opportunities for such young or starting artists who found their aesthetical identity in this vibrating scene. Emőke Bodonyi’s writing titled VLS - an Alternative Free Group with a Horizon in Szentendre, while describing the youngest generation’s presence guaranteeing a future, also takes a look on the elements of the certain surroundings of Szentendre, which were already 20
