Karl-Erik Eliasson, MA

A DYNAMIC AND FRAGMENTERIST ARTIST
Artist Lajos Flesser's studio is well worth seeing, particularly, when one has the artist in action. This is where his swift, vigorous work by the easel takes place. Squeezed-out paint tubes are piling up in drifts. For palettes he uses plates of glass. The intrument for applying the paint on the canvas is the palette-knife which is operated firmly of softlym and without too many sliding and sweeping movements. He wants to achieve a colouristic effect by means of a porous, ransparent depth of the surace, which is produced by a series of layers of paint that break the colours of previus layers, creating a sparkling effect. Dark patches appear to be illuminated from behund and underneath, so that the play of olours is perceived as atmosphere rather than surface.
 The distinct changes in the imprints caused by the palette-knife create a relief-like texture and a mosaic distributed of colour. Mosaics usally produce a vibrato by means of the spaces between the spaces of the stone. Lajos Flesser's paintings have a correspondingly shimmering effect on the eye. The method of applying paint produces a pattern like that of slate slab. The colour has softness and creates an illusory motionm whereas the surface itself is hard. The painting takes place with a seemingly relaced ease, like a playful dance.
 The artist grew up in Hungary and was trained to become a European top boxer. When he came to Sweden in 1956 he first made a name for himself as a boxer. Later, he opened an art gallery in Helsingborg with exhibitions of avant-garde art, both Nordic and international. In addition to his activity he spent more and more of his time on painting.
Naturally, his contacts with leading artist in the world were of great importance to him. One may also see his method of working as a physical action, a dynamic movement that is spontaneosly conveyed on to the composition. Shapes emerge in surprising manner, conveying the impression of a compisite dance with expressive body language. The content of the paintings is suggestivem communicating a strong feeling of sensuality. Fragmentary figures are suddenly endowed with rich dramatic content, and I would like to calls this staging "fragmentaristic".
 Human and animal shapes are confronted with one another, with the play of motion, Changes of identity lend the figures an impression of being bird-people, dog-people, elephant-people. Love and hate, fear and wearines are reflected in patterns of movement in male and female creatures. Occasionally, the confrontations are intensified, creating an impression of sudden movements across the surface of painting. The visions are conveyed in oil without sketching.
 The oil paint brings forth the illusion of beaten silver, curved gold and cupreous lustre. The hard surface sometimes gives the impression of lacquer or enamel. With their sparkling colouring and suggestive magic, these works can hardly be characterized abstract. In a literal sense, they can neither be called expressionist, since their form is clearly fixed, conveying ambiguous impressions. Nor are the paintings symbolist, since they do not impart and unambiguously literary or idealistic figurative language. Lajos Flesser's paintings are emotive and colouristic displays marked by intensive force which contributes to evasive, fragmentary meanings. The compositions adopt one single mode of expressions - suggestive metamorphoses of form meaning and color.