Embracing Forms

János Fajó (1937 - 2018) is  one of the key figures of Hungarian constructive ge­ometric art scene, Munkácsy- and Kossuth Prize-winning artist. Throughout his tenacious dec­ades of work, he explored empirical and geomet­rical phenomena with a unique rigour. He was concerned with structures of repetitive elements and their variations in his wide-ranging artistic practice. His formal experiments took the form of graphic works, screen prints, paintings, wall ob­jects and sculptures.

The mature Fajó did not need objects to depict, yet in his so-called “non-representational” art, organic motifs con­nected to society and the environment appear from time to time, and his titles also point in this direction. The easily recognisable, orderly and coordinated imagery of his works points to the infinity of the world’s colours and shapes through the simplest possible realization. His works are concise statements, clear images of spatial laws and relationships.
János Fajó is no stranger to international audiences. His work as a teacher, exhibition organiser and graphic de­signer has spanned countries and extended beyond Eu­rope. In his pedagogical, literary and editorial work, he has addressed artistic issues that are still valid and instructive today.

The compositional principle of János Fajó's paintings is reduction, which is based on the narrowing of natural forms to basic geometric forms and the variability of these reductive elements. Sensuality plays a decisive role in his works. "Without form I would not exist. I would be not Fajó. Form is the basic element of composition. Art is the most concentrated form of evoking feelings, but it is an effect, not its aim. I regard reason as a primary thing before feelings. I try to create works based on mathematical forms with geometrical character, a physical system of motion, with colour structures of cosmic validity".