Born in Transylvania, in Târgu Secuiesc (Kézdivásárhely), living and working in his place of birth from the beginning to the present day, sculptor Mihály Vargha completed his studies in sculpture at the Iași Academy of Fine Arts in 1988 – meaning he can look back on a career spanning more than three decades. Over this period, he has pursued a complex sculptural practice encompassing numerous branches, genres, and formal approaches of modern sculpture. Alongside exhibitions held in Transylvanian cities, his works have been presented on several occasions in Hungary as well: in addition to appearances in Veszprém and Balatonfüred, the artist – who has lived in Sfântu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy) since 1990 – has repeatedly exhibited independent collections in Budapest. As it is clearly evident from his professional trajectory, the Romanian Revolution of 1989 played a decisive role in shaping his artistic development. After completing his academy studies, he was compelled by the constraints of the dictatorship to work as an employee at the marble-processing plant in Simeria (Piski). However, after the victory of the revolution, the opportunity opened up for him to realise his artistic and existential ambitions. The social transformation of the post-1989 period simultaneously brought about an artistic liberation in Romania and in Transylvania: artists were once again able to work creatively, free from the influence of the state and politics in general; connections with international art were reopened; avant-garde initiatives were revitalized; and – which was particularly important for sculptors – it became possible to undertake the realisation of monumental projects driven by artistic intent. All of this carried particular weight and significance for an artist living and working as a member of a minority, one who consciously assumed responsibility for both the past and the present fate of Transylvanian Hungarians. Thus, it can be said that at the unexpectedly favourable historical juncture of the turn from the 1980s to the 1990s, sculptor Mihály Vargha was able to embark upon his artistic career alongside many of his contemporaries, whose approach was rooted in tradition yet imbued with a modern, up-to-date spirit.
As art historian György Szücs observed in his monograph on Mihály Vargha, published in 2010 in the Műterem (Atelier) series of Pallas Akadémiai Könyvkiadó (Pallas Academic Press), the sculptor’s activity to this date may also be described through successive chapters defined by the raw materials and sculptural techniques he used. In the early years of his career, his work was characterised by the carving of stone, and even at this stage his studio produced abstract, organically conceived compositions, primarily small-scale sculptures, plastic works and exhibition pieces. After a few years, stone was replaced by wood, and this shift in material coincided with a change in genre and form as well: his compositions were no longer traditional, finely finished small sculptures or plastic works, but rather objects, found objects, collages, and assemblages, constructed from roughly chainsaw-cut elements and various other components found primarily in nature. At this point, bast, leaf litter, grass, pine cones, twigs, tree bark, and similar materials become important constituent elements of his works. By doing so, the artist simultaneously abandons the notion of the artwork as “eternal” and unchanging, instead embracing its relatively short-lived existence – often limited to the duration of a single action or exhibition – adapted to specific environmental conditions in which they appear, along with the process of changes and transformations that unfolds during their existence. These factors constitute conceptual and essential characteristics of the works themselves. The pieces of Mihály Vargha’s wooden sculptural ensembles simultaneously convey a clearly articulated intention of material formation and expression, as well as a sense of inherent naturalness. The artistic upheavals of the twentieth century did not leave sculpture – and thus wood sculpture – untouched: they gave rise to new types of works and new artistic statuses. Sculpture is no longer merely a mass of material shaped by the artist and placed in space, or a formal order endowed for centuries with imitative and representational functions, but rather a product of expanded validity, saturated with meaning. One need only think of constructions far removed from traditional carving, of built spatial installations,of the elevation of everyday objects onto pedestals, or of the dilemmas posed by organic sculpture, in which the natural character of wood itself becomes – through a process of simultaneous self-negation and self-preservation – a work of art. In this process, an important role has been played by those Transylvanian sculptors who – aspiring to compete with earlier generations – chose wood as one of the most significant materials of their art. A long list of names could be assembled here (excluding industrial woodcarvers), ranging from Endre András Tornay through Ari-Viden Tirnovan, Károly Elekes and Attila Diénes, to Mihály Vargha. And if all this is examined in the light – and in the unity – of wood-sculptural oeuvres created within the borders of Hungary, recalling the completed careers of Géza Samu and Géza Ferenc Varga, or the still-unfolding work of Attila Mata – an extraordinarily exciting artistic world unfolds in front of us, revealing intricate interconnections and distinctive individualities. Within this artistic world and movement, and considering both formal and thematic aspects, the compositions of Mihály Vargha – at times articulated in symbolic terms, at times prompting associative interpretation, at times engaging with conceptual questions – prove to be unavoidable points of reference, carriers of numerous innovations and embodiments of inventive formal solutions.
The third group of works, defined by material and technique, comprises the bronze sculptures, which have accompanied Mihály Vargha’s sculptural practice from 1992 to the present day, primarily in the context of monumental commissions and the resolution of public-space tasks. In the contemporary art lexicon, art historian Gábor Pogány wrote of Vargha’s oeuvre that his “plastic mode of expression constitutes an individual conglomerate of conceptual sculpture and gentle, sensitive constructivism”. He also noted that, alongside small-scale sculptures and figurines carved out of stone and wood, the artist creates space assemblages, installations, and objects; moreover, biographical data further reveal the fact that numerous public sculptures have taken shape in his studio as well. As is often the case with artists working across multiple branches of sculpture, it can be stated here as well that the group of traditional portraits and monumental public memorials – works that strongly reflect the demands of commissioners and embody a realist, conservative outlook – stands in sharp contrast to the artist’s autonomous sculptural aspirations. The primary characteristic of the modelled, cast-bronze figures is a pathos-free approach: a form of figuration faithful to portrait likeness, stripped of traditional memorial clichés – such as the elevated pedestals – and integrated directly into their environment. In this manner appear the outstanding figures of Hungarian history – King Saint Stephen, Lajos Kossuth – as well as major creators of Hungarian culture and art, such as János Arany, Béla Bartók, Elek Benedek, Károly Kós, and others. It is noteworthy that, beyond memorial and commemorative functions, and aside from monumental sculptures created at domestic and international artists’ colonies, Mihály Vargha has not been able to undertake the creation and placement of autonomous public sculptures in communal spaces – a phenomenon closely linked to prevailing tendencies observed in Hungary.
Looking back on a career now spanning more than three decades and still continually enriched with new works, the conclusion can be drawn that Mihály Vargha’s most significant creations are those carved from wood, formed from wood, and interpreted as wooden compositions – works that are in fact discovered as found objects, standing before us as syntheses of classical sculptural tradition and innovation, of modernity. These works occasionally evoke art-historical topoi – such as the portrait or the figurative statue – yet through their memorial-like character they simultaneously generate a new reality, creating self-governed compositions organised into a distinctive plastic order. At times, the artist employs a heavy, block-like mode of articulation; at others, he presents compositions attuned to pierced bodies that reveal interior spaces, freely unfolding shells and mantles imbued with suggestions of organicity. At times, he articulates the tone and expression of his works through raw methods of execution; at others, through refined craftsmanship. The hard, rustic works that display traces of cutting and carving, bearing gestural paint marks on their surfaces, and the smoothly polished creations surrounded by softly bending planes – or those that seemingly conceal artificial interventions in favour of emphasising naturalness – attest to the dual nature, the two-voiced character of this sculptural practice. Figurativeness is in fact present in this sculptural practice in a latent manner, yet abstraction remains the dominant emphasis. Symbolising intentions and methods that refer to myth and cultic tradition can also be discerned, alongside aspirations towards emblematic synthesis and freely playful, associative utterances; dramatic proclamations and intimate confessions alike. While contemplating these works, one may be confronted with sharp exclamations suggestive of tragedy as well as lyrical meditations, and may reflect upon the coexistence of divergences between broadly expressive material formation and finely chiselled, meticulous shaping. Yet all of these dualities are brought together and their oppositions balanced by the inspiration and grandeur inherent in the embodiment of material and its elevation into the spiritual – the tragic beauty of things immortalised in matter.
[2016]