Description

Péter Párkányi, a contemporary sculptor, constructs his installations from a variety of materials: he places wooden and iron structures, along with bronze-cast sculpture fragments, on marble pedestals. With masterful control of form, he models torsos, facial fragments, and hands. His works always incorporate some kind of seemingly functional mechanical element—gears, cranks, and ropes. His sculptures, which often appear unfinished, are like structural experiments, where balance is achieved through the inner force radiating from the sculpture itself. In his piece Éva (Eve), the figure rests her hand on a solid cube that teeters atop a white marble block. The young female form sculpted by Párkányi is missing major body parts, and beneath her bronze-brown, gleaming “skin,” mechanical gears can be seen clicking and turning. Yet her femininity still radiates—her delicate profile, breast, and graceful arm complete the ideal image of a woman, the eternal Eve.

Párkányi places great emphasis on infusing his sculptures with movement and momentum. Éva is no exception; she balances on the bronze cube like a circus strongwoman, using her muscular arm. The gears embedded in her body enhance the sense of motion, energy, and muscular effort. Like in Madách’s work, the eternal Eve is capable of restoring balance to a destabilized world.

With this sculpture, the artist also aims to express beauty—a timeless kind of allure that he sees as the driving force of the world. Párkányi’s Éva reveals this beauty to us.

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