Statuette - Nodder II

The sculpture entitled Bólintó II. (Nodder II) is a sculpture of György Fusz, ceramicist and sculptor, a continuation of the 1981 diploma work – which won the Gorka prize – of the Hungarian College of Applied Arts (now MOME), one of the series entitled Deformation. In this series, the artist took gypsum samples from real people and then transformed them into molds, then hand-patterned the molds and then more accurately cut, destroyed, wounded and deformed them. György Fusz was one of the first in Hungary to deal with deconstruction under the postmodern trend, the objective examples of which are mainly known in architecture. Deconstruction, as a sculptural tool and the destruction of a bust of one size, carries the vulnerability of man and the restless and perilous atmosphere of the fall of communism, which the figure of Nodder still endures and accepts with almost stoic calm.

When handing over the objects, the artist recounted that the model of the sculpture, from which he took the plaster sample, was his college classmate, Tamás Bíró, who studied industrial design from 1976 and metalwork from 1977. Four years after the completion of the bust, Tamás Bíró died in a tragic diving accident in 1985 while exploring the crater of Lake Hévíz. The sculpture, which preserves its precise, lifelike features, can thus be interpreted not only as an imprint of a troubled age, but also as an ancient object type of death masks.

In the work entitled Burok 8. (Rind 8) the artistic intention turns completely opposite (Inv. no. 2017.31.1.). Here the goal is no longer the destruction of forms, human forms, but their construction, enveloping and protection. The series entitled Rind was started by György Fusz in 2012, with fragile body parts, but also strong and robust “protective covers” for life-size human figures.

For more information about the artworks of György Fusz, see here.