The artist was inspired by his childhood memories of the Helemba area. These memories come from the late eighties, when the Slovak-Hungarian border was still under surveillance.
“There were armed border guards in the watchtower. I have a memory related to a dramatic incident. Someone wanted to cross the border, which had a tragic outcome. After that, as a child, I always paid attention to these buildings, between which there were ship route markers placed at the same height. By today, these watchtowers have disappeared, but the ship’s direction signals still indicate the regulations.”
Driftwood is a free natural entity. This free entity is at the center of the objects. On the other hand, the peeled, processed wood forms a counterpoint within the composition that puts this entity in a framework. In order to understand the further layers of the interpretation of the artwork, it is extremely important that the artist works with specific, local materials, which in this case are driftwood collected from the banks of the Danube near the former watchtowers and the regulatory signs that still stand today, and the tree of heaven, which is considered an invasive species.
materials used: driftwood, tree of heaven