Playing with Fire Series Lőrinc Borsos

Comprising a permanently self-reflecting creative entity, Borsos Lőrinc (János Borsos and Lilla Lőrinc) is (are) at times self-contained and at times hybrid. In the series Playing with Fire, a balance is struck at the boundary between figurative and abstract art. Having been obscured by shiny black enamel paint (by BLAEK, the artist’s or artists’ own substance), the figures lose the moral positions that had been theirs in the compositions originally made for literary works by William Blake (1757–1827), moral positions that even Blake had questioned.

According to the artist(s), BLAEK itself represents a duality, forming a black yet shiny surface that absorbs and reflects light. The appropriated figures, taken from Blake, are surrounded by a fire motif, which also has a dual nature, being at times destructive and negative and at times cleansing and purifying. The fire and the abstracted, black, obscured figures become equal in their moral greyness, which is affirmed by the generalising titles, free of value judgements. The mode of installation seen here renders the works into a series of stations, with each piece posing a question to the viewer.

Linda Tarr