Exhibition in the Peterskapelle 23 June - 7 July 2021
"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" by Anikó Koltai
In conversation with the artist
Religions offer guidance for a good life. In her work "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall", artist Anikó Koltai shows how close they come.
What inspired you in this work?
Anikó Koltai: I noticed that two religious ideas merge: the Christian capital vices (pride/vanity, envy/jealousy, lust, sloth/laziness/ignorance, avarice/greed, gluttony/overconsumption, wrath/anger) and the six realms of existence (Gods, Demi-gods, Humans, Animals, Hungry Ghosts, Hells) from the Tibetan Buddhist “Wheel of Life “(Bhavacakra). But I don't want to explain too much. It is important to me that visitors also look it up and think about it for themselves.
Why did you use transparent material? Why two layers?
Transparency for me is symbolic. It symbolizes that nothing in this world is permanent. The image you see is always different because the space, the visitors become part of the image. The light changes the image too.
It is not only two-layered, but multi-layered. You always see several images together. It is also important to me that it is placed like this, because the Buddhist teaching of the six realms is also considered to be a mirror of our psyche. Hence, the title "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall". Each one of us can go through all six realms even within one day, causing suffering for ourselves. You can be arrogant, vain and at the same time envious, then angry at the world for it. Your greed can eat you up even further. But we don't realize that in doing so, we are causing our own suffering. It is not the world or our neighbours that do it to us, we produce these feelings ourselves, and we do the deed that follows it. Unfortunately, in doing so, we can also cause the suffering of our fellow human beings. We don't have to look far in our surroundings or in the world to find examples. And this is what the Christian capital vices are about. They are the causes of sins. I am not so fond of the word “sin”, it has been overused. Being envious in itself is not a sin. But killing someone because of it, is.
Which painting do you like best, what did you enjoy painting the most?
Difficult question. I spent a lot of time finding the motifs. It was important for me to use contemporary scenes, icons that are easily understandable to the viewer. I'm a big fan of Lord of the Rings (by J. R. R. Tolkien), and it was really fun to paint Gollum. The first painting was the portrait of Elon Musk. It was so clear to me that I want to depict him for the realm of Gods, for pride and arrogance.
Why didn't you want to write a caption?
I am a painter, I communicate with my pictures without words. It is important to me, that my paintings can also speak for themselves, can tell stories. I am though aware that this complex concept will not necessarily be understandable entirely without some additional information. But if I wanted to work with text, I would write and not paint.
Why did you hang the paintings from a circle?
The circle stands for the eternal cycle of life, cycle of suffering. It stands for the wheel of life in Tibetan Buddhism, and the circle stands for God in the Christian religion.
What effect do you hope your work will have?
I want to show that religions come to the same conclusions when it comes to how we humans can become better, live better together and minimize suffering in the world.
Do you think religions have a future?
Religious ideas have been with humanity for a long time and will remain important in some format, even when people think we don't need them.
