Review of 2015 exhibition by Szale Lazlo, Author and Publicist

An extraordinary fate gave birth to an extraordinary painter, H Vali. Valerie Haynal was born in the United States in 1956. Growing up in California, her father was a passionate sailor, and so much time was spent sailing on the ocean and cruising around half the world. In 2009 she moved to Hungary with her Hungarian born husband, Rudy Haynal (Hajnal Rezso) a coppersmith artist. She got her first fine art inspirations from her husband and also a good friend, Endre Szasz; who was living in Los Angeles at that time. She was educated in the U. S. at the university of Berkeley and Santa Cruz. Then, like the established artist tradition of traveling to study (for example: Hungarians going from Budapest to Paris or Rome) Valerie took study trips to Budapest several times during the 1990s. She studied at Gyemant Laszlo’s painting school in Obuda and later with Laszlo Patay, who was the head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Fine Arts. She internalized the fine art maximalism and anatomy lessons of both these Master artists but in her artistic vision she often turns away from the classical proportions of the golden rule. Sometimes her work approaches a “naïve” or folk-art style, while a poetic “hyperrealism” is also expressed. Every painting has some strange duality: A child’s amazement along with a deep philosophy; Perfection and wavering uncertainty. Established idyllic beauty, but with drama hiding behind it. An anxious threat or thought that calls us to think about this. It is alluded to in metaphors and objects that irresistibly speak of more than their ordinary existence. An example is her still life of a beautiful sunflower bouquet. The raging beauty of yellow flowers dominate the image, and the idyll is only enhanced by the small blue bird that pecks at some seeds. The painting title: “Cat Shadow” The cat doesn’t creep in threateningly. Only the faint shadow appears in the corner of the picture. Warning; like some hidden “memento mori”. We live in the shadow of death. And like the bird, we don’t know when it comes for us. Perhaps H. Vali’s most common motifs are the strange, beautiful old women who seem to know all this. In Vali’s painting: “Life’s strands” an old woman knits. Her eyes gazing toward the distance. Behind her, her life is represented in the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and she is sitting in the winter portion of the landscape. She is knitting by habit and does not care that black birds are picking apart her weaving and carrying away the strands. This uncommon duality certainly comes from the fate of a native-born American who became a Hungarian artist. Her personality, upbringing and language are rooted in America. But the painter, I believe, is completely Hungarian. Not just the reference to the Hungarian masters, but her inspiration from the Hungarian land and profound connection to Hungary’s tragic and historic fate. An expression of the path to becoming a Hungarian painter is shown in her painting “Mirror Image”. In this work, an American girl kneels in front of a mirror and sees the reflection of herself in Hungarian clothes. Her Hungarian self reflected back. Another marvelous example is her “Trianon” painting. In which a sad Transylvanian boy stands looking at you from beside a “kopjafa” or traditional Hungarian wooden memorial. Dated 1920. There is no pathos. There is no bleeding Hungary or greedy marching beasts. Just the simple memorial and the so very sad eyes. The painting speaks to everyone and expresses what we feel now, a hundred years later.
A real message is expressed in Vali’s “Summertime” painting. Like the individual frames of an old film strip stand cubes that do not relate to each other in time but rather stretch into space. Each cube could be an independent image, but like the iconostasis, this diversity also provides a unified experience. The main theme, in the middle of the painting is a girl picking poppies. A little bird is in front of her singing a trail of Hungarian folk motifs that rise and curl over her head. Another figure is holding a sickle and to the left are round bales of straw. Moments of harvest time. Idyllic houses in the background. It is Hungarian summer; with Hungarian landscapes, Hungarian colors, Hungarian folk-tales. Hungarian land with a girl leaning over it in which it is not hard to become better acquainted with the painter. Of all of Vali’s symbols, perhaps the richest and most strangely beautiful example is the painting of a lovely, angelic child’s face. But this face is closed, rigid, the bright blue eyes seem to hide inside secrets and a tension seems to emanate from within. “The World of Imagination”. The background imagery displays this child’s imaginings. A child’s soaring desires. The world-wide, natural symbol of the downy winged butterfly represents the transience of happiness and beauty. But imagination is not only the realm of desires, but also of fear and anxiety. The two are related to each other, because anxiety is part of longing. If we desire something but are prevented from achieving it. The ascending aspiration is represented by the colorful butterfly; the descent, or fear is represented by the hand protruding from the floor. The deep indigo-purple smile between the two is the mystery of the inner world of the soul and the confusion of emotions in which it illuminates. H. Vali participated in several group and solo exhibitions in America, as well as Hungary. Most of the time she participated in joint exhibitions with her husband; exhibiting in Budapest, Miskolc, Szombathely, Veresegyhaz, Pecs, Szigetvar, and in her own village, in the picturesque Zselic hill country; the charming and inspiring village of Vasarosbec. By: Szale Laszlo, Author and Publicist