There is a photographer here, with us, who is half American and a half Hungarian or – probably – completely Hungarian. Who is spite of this is looking at the world as a Central-European and as a cosmopolitan, and he possesses the technical skill to show us what he can see. Being a practicing photographer myself I dare to say that to see and to show are two different things. As to what does Tamás RÉVÉSZ want to show? As he worded it, he tries to grasp and to reflect the so-called genius loci, namely the spirit of the place. Many say that his photos are shocking. I would rather say that his photos are shocking because they are spontaneous, witty and timeless, because he presents even the ugly as being beautiful. And with doing so, he is completely in opposition with the fashionable trends which try to make ugly even the beautiful.

The photos of RÉVÉSZ are not prudish. In stead, they are poetic and show beyond themselves. Tamás RÉVÉSZ turns to people and landscapes with childish curiosity, and he stares with childish innocence on his subjects. As if he were not taking photos, but were painting with his camera. In this case in black and white, while facilitating for us to get acquainted with the shades as well, including the good, the bad, the perfect and the imperfect. Seemingly, he has no purpose at all. As if he did not intend to save the world, only to describe. To describe in a specific manner, á la RÉVÉSZ. He is usually compared to others, to other famous Hungarian photographers. In reality, he has a lot in common with André Kertész, Robert and Cornell Capa and Brassai. Still he is different, as his “fingerprints” make different from anyone else.

I am familiar with his photos of Budapest, and also with his album devoted to New York. I am convinced that when he photographs the different cities, he adapts the personality of the cities in question, pulls that on him as a helmet, and he comes out of the helmet only after he had learnt all its secrets.

Budapest is also united with him, and so is New York. He feels at home here and there as well. This dual vision improves his art.

Tamás RÉVÉSZ says that he has always defined impossible missions for himself. One of these “missions impossible” was, when in the 1970s, he made socio-photos, as I also did. The material of his album “Farewell to the Gypsy/Roma settlements” I feel to be my close relatives. In this case, the impossible was called social sensibility and bravery.

With these thought, I am opening the exhibition.
– Gabor DEMSZKY, Mayor of City of Budapest

KOGART HOUSE
Budapest
May-June 2006