Velekei József Lajos: A MINDENSÉG ÖLÉBEN (Kiállítási katalógusok - Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2007)

One of Velekei's preferred synonyms of 'secret' is the Holy Grail, the chalice of the Last Supper according to the legends of King Arthur. Joseph of Arimatea collected Christ's blood, the Holy Blood in this chalice after the crucifixion. The Grail's interpretation is connected with the two topics: the secret and the path. The essence of the Grail is in the searching process, similarly to the philosophy of the Tao. Similarly to the meaning of the Tao, of the Path, which is the very process of "being on the path", the Grail (secret) also finds meaning in the searching process, in the very path leading to him. This is much more important than the real finding. The essence of the secret is that it is unknown - what we know is no more a secret. The personality developing during the search, the soul being transformed by experience and the view of the world are the real values, which lead the individual towards the universal knowledge. The Grail symbolises the final secret and the path leading inwards. This is the path, on which the work of art is taking shape. In the reality beyond reality, in the silence of solitude in the workshop where the artist experiences with a chisel in his hand and through the magic of the art again and again the process of Creation. Here, he alone is present. The artist alone. But both are here: the work and the artist. There is silence, endless silence. It excludes the noise of the world, of the art life, of the skirmishes of the trends - this here is the basis of the creation of authentic works of art. The present exhibition - being a cult-space - is built up similarly to Stonehenge. Stones are laid in shape of a circle in the exhibition room; the circle of megaliths surrounds the shape of a cross. Seven wood sculptures are set up in this circle: we see the Faith, the Love, the Wealth and the Tree of Life on the left hand side and the Power, the Knowledge and the Tree of Death on the right Like a shrine in the centre of the spiritual space stands the sculpture symbolising the moment before birth (Before Birth). Velekei deals basically with the topics of life and death. He considers the existence as a process and death is part of it. Therefore, the sculpture entitled Before Birth is related to both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death in the sense of the principle of continuity. The idols recalling the individual trees have of course more concrete titles too: like for the Love's tree - the Woman, for the Knowledge's tree - the Man, for the Power's tree - the Temple, etc. Title of the group is: Silence. Velekei is using thousand years old signs in his works; however he does not re-create these signs, but extends them with new possibilities of interpretation. We can look for the roots of his system of symbols in the Celtic, Greek and Roman cultures or in the archaic Hungarian art, but for me they are more universal, easier to understand, within the capacity of everybody independently of linguistic and national attachments. One of the most basic signs is the circle. The circle (and its counter-part in space: the sphere) is the completeness, the perfect shape, endlessly shutting up in itself, the sign of endlessness and of completeness. That is the reason why it is important to arrange the sculptures in a circular form. The triangle is also an important symbol: it stands mainly for the Holy Trinity in the Christian iconography. Velekei represents the Gate of Life - related to birth - as a triangle standing on its vertex, which recalls the depictions of God's Eye. The Position Zero is related also to the birth, recalling the shape of the circle and with this the opposite of the zero, the endlessness. It refers, on the other hand, to the philosophy of the Tao again, since Lao Tse said that the zero is the highest form of unity. The oval shape reminds of the egg and so of another very important motive for Velekei, of the bird (Bird] and with the bird he refers to flying. Furthermore, the bird is the symbol of the soul. And still, Velekei often depicts birds with tied up wings, pointing to the sky as an exclamation mark or flying downwards - or rather falling down. Besides sculptures we see drawings and paintings in the space. Their typical motive is the spiral, which again refers to the circle, to the sphere, and the mentioned wedge-like or antler-like signs. Four big paintings are featured, showing the four elements: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The other three elements are always present in the pictures of each element but the own characteristics remain dominant of course. The explosion-like wreathing of the Fire symbolises the conception, the Water the embryonic state, the gate motive of the Earth the moment of birth and the thorn-like signs of the Air stand for the existence after the birth. So, each of the four elements symbolises a phase of the existence, beyond the arkhe-definition of Empedocle. The works of Lajos József Velekei are signs. Signs of life. Reminders. They remind and recall. They remind us of the faith. Of the Unbelief. Of places. Of times. Of profane sanctuaries. Of mute supplications. Of the silence. Of the birth. Of the death. Of the transience. Of the eternal. They recall and they remind. Of the existence. Judit Szeifert 5