Zágorec-Csuka Judit: Gábor Zoltán festőművész portréja (Lendva, 2002)
Részletek Gábor Zoltán prózai műveiből
peace, but to tell the truth, only the rare person can restrain himself." He does not believe in destiny; that suits an abstract manner of thinking, and he is far removed from anything transcendental. Nor does he believe that he was fated to be an artist. He simply decided to become a painter, albeit in his still innocent child's mind. Seeing this earthly life as hell is cruel reality to him, and not merely a metaphor. In spite of having shared in a variety of spiritual repression, especially upon returning from his Viennese emigration, he still clings to some form of unreal hope that artistic creativity will ease his earthly existence. "A better world than the one I create through art, writing and painting is simply an illusion; however, while I am working, the beauty of it calms me. I am allowed that much selfishness, am I not?" Gabor's lifelong intellectual and artistic profile are determined by highly moral, ethical criteria, principles, sincerity, generosity and above-average erudition. The Croatian art historian, Dr. Tonko Maroević, evaluates him as follows: "He has been present in the Zagreb artistic scene for already half a century, however, never an obtrusive and extravagant person, but rather, moderate and contemplative. Seldom can we say that about artists, can we? Whence his reservation? Namely, the artistic sphere is also subject to oppression, elbowing, ambition and careerism." He never had his own studio, although as secretary of the Croatian Art Association he obtained them for many colleagues. "If you're honest, sometimes you're also stupid," he muses. Most people are impartial toward art, nonchalant. Gábor: "Visitors to art exhibitions are either indifferent or they play at being interested with only a thin layer of perception and comprehension of artistic values." In "Homing Pigeon" he recites Picasso: "...in myyouth I believed in the proper sublimity of art, however, it later became increasingly apparent that the art created in the 19th century reaches its end day by day." Gábor believes in Lendava's "genius loci" and many of his paintings contain reflections of the town: "The History of Lendava", "Battle with the Turks in 1603", "The Naturalization of the Grape Vine", "Merry-Go-Round", "Kálmán Pataky's Birthplace", "György Zala's Birthplace," as well as numerous other oil paintings with topographical motifs of Lendava and its surroundings. About the natural assimilation of Prekmurje's Hungarians, Gábor says: "At the ceremonial unveiling of the fresco I painted on the walls of the Conference Room in Lendava's City Hall building in 1967, I stated the following: 'Hungarians learn that in 1603 they beat the Turks, but that is not true. Slovenes state that they were the heroes. Neither is that true. Namely, during that time, national allegiance among the people did not exist. They only knew they were serfs and worked for feudal gentlemen who spoke German or Latin, and not the language of the people. Therefore, it follows that both the town and the feudal gentlemen were defended by the people of Lendava. It should be the same today. The emphasis should not be on Slovenian or Hungarian because today or tomorrow the borders may disappear — I hope.' " To numerous Jewish friends who died in 162
