An exhibition focusing on how Toth, across his artistic practice, moved from black and white into colour.

«The search for origins can be seen throughout all of twentieth century art. As inidividuals and in groups, artist direct their attention towars sources of creativity, whether found in the mind, the past or under distant skies. The goals are many, as are the methods of approach, yet there is a common striving for directness and immediacy, in experiencing life as well as a form of expression.

(…)

Not only artists, but philosophers, sociologists and other experts focus on modern civilization’s rational conquest over the life of the soul. They pursue the themes of restraint and loss of immediacy, each in their own way. The artists from the turn of the century were the first to protest. These pioneers of modernism wanted to liberate art and recapture the mind’s repressed vitality and spontaneity.

Geza Toth’s work with creating images is linked to this liberating tradition. He is not a rebel – and neither is there a need of one in the varied art milieu of today – rather an artist in search of genuine origins- One can say that he seeks sources for a vocabulary of imagery, and that he also consciously makes visible the simple aspects of human traits in a language that continues to believe that beauty has something to do with art.

As a visual artist, Geza Toth works with quite simple means, an orientation that is in accordance with both his perspective and interests. Since his motives place themselves within the modus of originality, the form of representation is of a rather unassuming character. Each single image is prepared for intimate viewing and hushed conversation with a viewer. The relationship between visual meaning and the representational meaning of the figurative language is thereby in balance.”

Paul Grøtvedt

“An exhibition with works by Geza Toth becomes a meeting with a number of different, distinctive images. In this way, the exhibition becomes neither more nor less than the sum of the individual works, but exactly equal to the sum. And what more kan one wish of an art exhibition?”

Åsmund Torkildsen, Curator

Geza Toth (b. 1955, Budapest) is a Norwegian printmaker and artist. His works depict the great and defining stages of human life, with recurring themes such as love, growth, pain and death. He is best known for works that explore the many values and tones between black and white.