a pdf of all

 Janos Enyedi
press/reviews
1976-2014
Janos Enyedi: Disappearing Landscape Leepa-­‐Ra(ner Museum St. Petersburg College, Tarpon Springs, FL October 12, 2014 to January 4, 2015 Tampa Bay Times by Lennie Benne) December 7, 2014 The Lay of the Land
Landscape art changes with ... the landscape. It also can change with the Kmes. The way just three arKsts define the genre in two exhibiKons at the Leepa-­‐Ra(ner Museum of Art demonstrates how radically different it can be . . . I'm graKfied that the late Janos Enyedi is finally geTng a museum exhibiKon in the Tampa Bay region. He died suddenly in 2011 at 63, having just moved to St. Petersburg, and had not yet worked out an exhibiKon schedule. The late Allyn Gallup organized a lovely retrospecKve in his Sarasota gallery earlier this year but the Leepa-­‐
Ra(ner Museum is the first in these parts to display his work in "Disappearing Landscape.” His theme was consistent — the Rust Belt — but iteraKons of it were varied, among them photography, sculpture and wall reliefs. The reliefs blew me away. They're like industrial doll houses, meKculously cra`ed from paper board and painted to resemble metal. I found it hard to believe they weren't metal. Enyedi could be considered part of a school known as precisionism, a mid-­‐20th century style in which the new industrial age was documented by arKsts such as Charles Sheeler and Charles Demuth. Like them, Enyedi gives a geometric order to his construcKons, but unlike those arKsts, who worked in a Kme of America's rise as the greatest industrial naKon in the world, Enyedi saw its demise. There is eloquence in his sculpted renderings of steel bridges, beams, even a bucket for melKng metal, painted orange to suggest its fiery contents. The large-­‐scale photographs have an immediacy — a cavernous empty machine shop whose architectural symmetry and beauty, ironically, can only be admired when it becomes an empty shell, for example. The wall sculptures, as re-­‐creaKons, give us the sense of something idealized and from a memory. Installa/on Photos Janos Enyedi: Disappearing Landscape Curated by Lynn Whitelaw Leepa-­‐Ra(ner Museum | Tarpan Springs, FL Oct. 12-­‐ 2014 – Jan. 4, 2015 Recent Exhibi/on Reviews Janos Enyedi: Images of Industry Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Gallery Sarasota, FL | April 4-­‐May 10, 2014 Tampa Bay Times by Lennie Benne) April 3, 2014 Installa/on Photos Janos Enyedi: Images of Industry Curated by Roy Slade, former Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and the Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI and Diana Enyedi. Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art | Sarasota, FL April 12 – May 10, 2014 Recent Exhibi/on Reviews Janos Enyedi: Images of Industry Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Gallery Sarasota, FL | April 4-­‐May 10, 2014 /cketSarasota by Susan Rife April 3, 2014 Recent Exhibi/on Reviews Janos Enyedi: Images of Industry Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Gallery Sarasota, FL | April 4-­‐May 10, 2014 Crea/ve Loafing | Tampa Bay, FL by Megan Voeller April 3, 2014 Industrial Strengths
A Sarasota exhibition looks back at the works of late St. Petersburgbased artist, Janos Enyedi
Diana Enyedi recalls a road trip early in her marriage that precipitated one of her husband’s disKncKve artworks. The couple was driving near Pi(sburgh at sunset, on their way to her family home in Ohio. Janos, asleep in the passenger seat, awoke just in Kme to see the seTng sun light up the corrugated façade of an abandoned factory as they drove by. When they returned home to Washington, D.C., Janos took to his studio to re-­‐
create the factory in a form between a sculpture and painKng. Today the finished piece — nearly 3 feet tall at the highest point of its sloping roof and more than 5 feet long — hangs on a wall in his former studio in St. Petersburg. Made enKrely of hand-­‐folded paper and cut illustraKon board painted gray, the piece is an intricate homage to the American industrial landscape that can be seen through May 10 in the exhibiKon Janos Enyedi: Images of Industry. The exhibiKon at Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art in Sarasota brings Enyedi’s work into public view locally for the first Kme since his death in 2011. Co-­‐curated by Diana Enyedi and Roy Slade, who served as dean of the Corcoran School of Art and director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington where Enyedi earned a BFA in 1975, the exhibiKon includes steel sculptures, mostly small in scale, and photographs as well as Enyedi’s trademark cut paper and board construcKons of industrial architecture and landscapes. For those who knew Enyedi, the poignant backdrop of his death imparts special significance to the exhibiKon. Looking to start a new chapter in their lives, the couple moved to St. Petersburg’s then fledgling Warehouse Arts District in 2011 a`er living for two decades in northern Virginia. They bought and renovated a live-­‐work space, staging Janos’s art throughout with advice from Slade, a longKme friend. Then, six months a`er arriving and one day a`er being menKoned in a Tampa Bay Times arKcle about the growing arts district, Enyedi had a heart a(ack and died at age 63. Crea/ve Loafing Exhibi/on Review (con9nued) For Bob Stackhouse, a St. Petersburg-­‐based arKst who was Enyedi’s professor at the Corcoran School of Art and one of the people who encouraged him to move to St. Pete, the exhibiKon is both a celebratory occasion and a wisjul one. (Along with Slade, Stackhouse recommended Enyedi’s work to Gallup and encouraged the show.) Also ciKng Theo Wujcik, the Tampa arKst and longKme USF professor who died last month, Stackhouse expressed frustraKon with the posthumous appreciaKon that comes belatedly to arKsts outside the small percentage who achieve fame during their lifeKmes, and with the uphill ba(le that surviving spouses face to preserve and promote the arKsts’ work. “It wouldn’t hurt to celebrate these guys when they’re alive,” Stackhouse says. “It’s kind of maddening. Everybody misses the arKst when they’re gone. Before the work was languishing and in disrepair. Why isn’t it important when they’re alive and you can talk to them about it?” The Sarasota exhibiKon offers what might be a last chance to see a criKcal mass of Enyedi’s works — around 40 pieces — on display together. It features some of his best sculptures and photographs that aren’t already held in private or public collecKons such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Va., and the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Ga. Standouts include “Heartland Souvenir,” 1998, a three-­‐dimensional painKng, Enyedi’s term for his wall-­‐mounted sculptural works, in the style of the gray factory piece. Eight feet long and 4 feet tall, “Heartland” is a paean to rust, carefully simulated through acrylic painKng on illustraKon board cut to mimic metal objects including giant gears, bridge trusses, and the façade of a warehouse. All these are arranged, along with a painted landscape, as an industrial diorama of sorts inside a thick frame of diamond-­‐tread steel plate — in fact, also illustraKon board, hand-­‐cut and colored by Enyedi. The effect is of a dreamlike glimpse into a bygone America. While the sculptural works show places filtered through Enyedi’s memory or imaginaKon, his photographs reveal him as a keen observer of reality. “Port of Virginia,” 2005, finds monumental geometry in the spindly black and blue framework of shipping container machinery; the image was part of an extensive project documenKng waterborne labor and commerce for the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. Enyedi undertook a similar project documenKng steel factories in Bethlehem, Penn., in 2003, and one at the Port of Odessa in Ukraine in 2008. Throughout such endeavors, his fascinaKon remained grounded in the visual qualiKes of the landscape rather than in taking sides on poliKcal or environmental issues related to industry. “He was not an apologist or a promoter—it was his muse,” Diana Enyedi says. “He wasn’t making judgments. He was saying this inspires me to make art.” “His art is accessible to a whole range of people to whom it wouldn’t be otherwise because it is familiar to them,” she says. “People all over the place, including friends who are real environmentalists, would have ‘Janos moments’ and send him photographs when they saw something.” Enyedi’s pracKce wasn’t without hiccups. He subjected all of his photographs to a Photoshop filter that simulates the texture of watercolor painKng, a readymade tweak that arKsts trained since the advent of digital imaging would generally turn their noses up at. And his steel sculptures, which are suggesKve of abstracted, deconstructed machinery, someKmes feel clu(ered with parts. SKll, Enyedi made the work he loved, and the work he believed in, in response to a world he clearly also loved. “Art is the ordinary made into the extraordinary,” says Slade. “It’s one of the truisms about art, but in Janos’s case it was absolutely true.” Janos Enyedi: Images of Industry conKnues through May 10 at Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, 1288 North Palm Ave, Sarasota 941-­‐366-­‐2454, allyngallup.com. To learn more about Janos Enyedi, visit his Furnace Road Studio website at furnaceroadstudio.com. Exhibi/on Review Working on the Water: Mari9me Commerce in the Hampton Roads Region Contemporary Art Center of Virginia Virginia Beach , VA Sept. 15, -­‐ November 6. 2005 Virginia Pilot of Hampton Roads & North Carolina by Tersea Annas September 15, 2005 (conAnued next page) Exhibi/on Review Working on the Water: Mari9me Commerce in the Hampton Roads Region Contemporary Art Center of Virginia Virginia Beach , VA Sept. 15, -­‐ Nov. 6. 2005 Virginia Pilot of Hampton Roads & North Carolina by Tersea Annas September 15, 2005 Exhibi/on Reviews Janos Enyedi: Made in America The American Industrial Landscape – Reconstructed Dec. 2003 – Jan. 2004 Payne Gallery at Moravian College In conjuncKon with The Smithsonian’s NaKonal Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA ––– April – May 2004 orris Museum, The MAugusta, GA ––– April 25, June 6, 2004 The Butler InsKtute of Art, Youngstown, OH ––– Jan – April, 2005 The American InsKtute of Architects, Washington, DC Janos Enyedi: Made in America The American Industrial Landscape Reconstructed Janos Enyedi: Made in America: The American Industrial Landscape Reconstructed Dec. 2003 – Jan. 2004 Payne Gallery at Moravian College and The Smithsonian’s NaKonal Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA Industrious arAst, conKnued Janos Enyedi: Made in America The American Industrial Landscape Reconstructed, Dec. 2003 – Jan. 2004 Payne Gallery at Moravian College and The Smithsonian’s NaKonal Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA The Philadelphia Inquirer, by Virginia Donohue Janos Enyedi: Made in America The American Industrial Landscape Reconstructed, April 4 –– May 30, 2004 The Morris Museum, Augusta, GA INDEPENDENT SPIRIT, Augusta, GA by Rhonda James Janos Enyedi: Working Spaces ––Working Places: Images of the American Industrial Landscape AFL-­‐CIO Headquarters, Washington, DC | Graphic Communicator Jan-­‐Feb., 2003 Janos Enyedi: Working Spaces ––Working Places: Graphic Communicator con9nued • 
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Janos Enyedi: Made in America The American Industrial Landscape Reconstructed, Dec. 2003 – Jan.2004 Payne Gallery at Moravian College and The Smithsonian’s NaKonal Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA Exhibi/on Announcement True Colors, Medita9ons on the American Spirit 69 ArKsts Respond to Events of September 11, 2001 Opened February 2002 Meridian House InternaKonal, Washington, DC Traveled to 6 US ciKes and 9 countries, ending at the Ohr-­‐O’Keefe Museum in Biloxi, MS in 2004. Many works were September damaged there by the 2 disaster of the 21 Century–– Hurricane Katrina. VENUES INCLUDED: Na/onal Art Club; New York, NY | Topkapi Palace; Istanbul, Turkey Çankaya Cultural Center; Ankara, Turkey | SunTrust Plaza Gallery; Atlanta, GA | The Society of the Four Arts; Palm Beach, FL The Robert & Mary Montgomery Armory Art Center; W. Palm Beach, FL The Allied Museum; Berlin, Germany | Millennium Court Arts Centre; Portadown, Northern Ireland | Ormeau Baths Gallery; Belfast, Northern Ireland | Na/onal Gallery of Arts; Tirana, Albania Danubiana Gallery; Bra/slava, Slovakia | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza; Dallas, TX | Ohr-­‐O'Keefe Museum of Art; Biloxi, MS (1911 City Hall Arts and Cultural Center; Lake Charles, LA) nd
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Janos Enyedi: Memories of Milltown A Twenty-­‐Five Year Survey of the American Industrial Landscape Sept-­‐Oct, 2001 S/fel Fine Arts Center, Oglebay Ins/tute Wheeling, WVA Wheeling News Register September 23, 2001 (ArAcle reproduced here for readability) PresenKng a naKonally known arKst who creates three-­‐
dimensional landscapes, Oblebay InsKtute and United NaKonal Bank invite the public to a(end the opening of “Memories of Milltown: A 25-­‐Year Survey of the American Industrial Landscape,” an exhibiKon by Janos Enyedi. “This exhibiKon is truly unique. Janos is a wonderful arKst with fascinaKng works and unusual technique,” remarked Neal Warren, director of visual arts at SKfel Center. Warren curates each art exhibiKon that the Ohio Valley art center displays. “Because of his focus on Industrial landscapes, it's an exhibiKon that hits home here in the Ohio Valley.” “I've had a life-­‐long love affair with American Industry,” Enyedi said. A naKve of Chicago and current resident of Mason Neck in northern Virginia, Enyedi is determined to share his images of industry with the public — images he sees as beauKful and surprisingly delicate. Building his art resume first as a printmaker, Enyedi then became interested in welded sculpture and finally industrial landscapes. Calling the Friendly City "“incredibly appropriate” as a locaKon to display his work, Enyedi is honored to be doing a one-­‐man show at SKfel Center. “No one else out there makes art just like I do. I show rust, dirt, grit . . . reality,” said Enyedi, explaining that though there are many precisionist painters who create images of factories and work sites, he is the only one creaKng three-­‐dimensional type collages. A Milltown Love Affair conKnued With 88 works making up the “Memories of Milltown” exhibiKon, Enyedi is a prolific arKst who is highly enthused about his creaKve efforts. His work is represented in Pi(sburgh by Sam Berkowitz's Concept Art Gallery, located at 1031 South Braddock Avenue. Milltown is an imaginary small factory town, not unlike Lake Wobegon. It is created from collecKve memories of every industrial city and town I have passed through since my earliest childhood experience of riding past the steel mills and refineries of Gary, Ind., in a gray autumn dusk. Those images pleasantly haunt and inspire me to this day,” he commented. In the Memories of Milltown series, there are a few experiments in style — most notably Smoke and Study for Storm Cloud,” Enyedi related, “Like many arKsts, I enjoy visiKng my ancestor arKsts by experimenKng with their techniques and styles. It helps in understanding what they saw. The Cubist aspects of these works came about through pure serendipity. Scrap elements from a previous piece were randomly sca(ered on my worktable, and they had a decidedly cubist feel to them. I simply did what the shapes told me to do.” “Every American should get to see a working steel mill . . . it's what built this country.” he said. “Factories are as important as high-­‐tech, yet today, it seems that we take less pride in the hard work of labor, the sweat and toil which should be part of America's pride.” His art is fascinaKng to study due to the three-­‐
dimensional nature of the pieces and the mulKtude of materials that he uses to make it. With hand folding and hand building, Enyedi creates his own corrugated paper and images of cranes, heavy equipment, bridges and buildings. CreaKng vistas and representaKons of factories and mills, he explained that he loves the structures and vistas they make. “It's truly evident that form follows funcKon when you study industrial landscapes,” he said. Having done many commissions for mills and iron works execuKves, Enyedi has a a growing field of admirers. Of Hungarian extracKon, the arKst is proud of the fact that his father was born in the Mountain State and his ancestors all emigrated from Hungary. The arKst will parKcipate in two special events held in connecKon with the fall exhibiKon: an arKst—led tour at 11:00 a.m. October 27 and a technical demonstraKon at 1:00 p.m. that day. Both special events are free to the public. Storm Cloud, 1999 Pi`sburgh Post Gaze`e By Mary Thomas Janos Enyedi Structural Study #1, 1996 Acrylic, color pencil on aluminum, graphite on illustraKon board 12”H 20.25”W 2.75”D Images of Industry, The Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA Jan-­‐Feb 1986 Industrial Drawing #3, Hangar, 1986 Graphite on folded paper and constructed illustraKon board 32”H 48”W 4”D Fire Escape Souvenir, Washington, PA, 1976 Acrylic, hand-­‐folded paper, basswood H. 20” L. 22” D. 7” (excerpt) The Young Voices of
Washington Sculpture
The pieces of McCarty, Janos Enyedi
and (Nick) Ward show more clearly
an indebtedness to the Smith-Caro
tradition, but each artist works the
tradition with forceful intelligence and
individuality. McCarty’s vertical piece
and Enyedi’s horizontal one are
particularly strong. The emergence of
these two talents is one of the highlights of the exhibition. It is interesting
to see David Staton’s triangular
wooden piece in such company, for
Staton’s work in the past has been more
associative and less formal than this.
The piece holds up in fresh circumstances, however.
Washington Star, Benjamin Forgey
Sunday, October15, 1978
Excerpted Washington Star,
Benjamin Forgey
November 18, 1978
Janos Enyedi at the Wolfe Street
Gallery (1204 31st St. NW): Enyedi’s
“Bessemer Sont” series of welded steel
sculptures declare a love affair with the
arc. Arcs, of course, imply speed and
movement, and Enyedi keeps body and
eye moving in these big pieces in which
arcs of sheet steel,
conforming to a basically circular pattern,
are bolted, welded, shaped, cut and
punctured, and then punctuated with jolts
of I-beams and flat sheets of steel at
subtley dramatic angles. In addition to
abstract contrasts of open-closed,
straight-curved, mass-space, these works,
because of irregular cutting of edges at
crucial spots, possess a strangely allusive
quality. The pedestal-sized arc pieces don’t
express quite the structural necessity that
the larger ones do. Smith and Caro are in
the background, of course, but these are
impressive works.
Thank you for viewing the art reviews
of the exhibitions
of artworks by Janos Enyedi.