We know from Ákos Révész’s biography and ars poetica that he grew up in the neighbourhood of sculptor Barna Megyeri’s (1920-1966) studio in Budapest. Révész was also greatly helped at the beginning of his career by recluse Éva Virág’s instructions for compositional techniques and colour-mixing. New inspiration came from composer Pál Rózsa (1946-) who wrote three music pieces under the influence of Révész’ paintings. Ákos Révész usually mentions as a fundamental basis of his art psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s theory of flow which is a happiness-oriented philosophy of life and soul. Révész quotes Csíkszentmihályi: “water flows naturally and moves in a steady direction. It has energy, power, steadiness, and from this combination emerges tranquillity and unity with the world.” So this is the approach Révész as artist applies to the process of painting. Ákos Révész operates simultaneously at the level of universal time and ocean of pure energies, and in any of their manifest micro- and macro tissues, internal plasma states, and associative universe. It can be no coincidence that in his work, impulsive gestures and chaotic handmarks ultimately emerge as a dynamic harmony of blending colours and tight, sudden, quick forms.

Tihamér Novotny, Art writer