Luminous Shadow Totem I-II, 1996

Graphite and watercolor on cardboard – 700 x 500 mm

This two-part series, created in 1996, marks a transitional phase in Bónyai Barbara’s artistic trajectory, bridging two distinct bodies of work: the Tardigrades series, with its archaic, grotesque, animal-like figures, and the later Hermetic cycle, defined by enigmatic abstraction. Executed on light grey cardboard, the compositions began with gestural yellow lines painted directly onto the surface, over which dense, block-like graphite markings were layered. These dark, metallic traces rise from the paper almost like low reliefs, their shimmering surfaces responding sensitively to changes in light.

Within the compositions, abstract figures reminiscent of totemic or corporeal forms emerge faintly yet persistently through the heavy tonalitie – as if fossilized remains of a forgotten mythology were surfacing from the depths of an unknown psychic terrain. The graphite surfaces, difficult to photograph due to their iridescent, almost kinetic texture, are not merely a technical challenge but constitute one of the works’ most compelling visual and conceptual features. The images hover on the threshold between presence and disappearance, figuration and dissolution.

The inner tension of the series lies in the coexistence of figural residue and abstraction: while traces of corporeal forms are still present, they are already dissolving into transformation. This formal, conceptual, and intermedial transition points to one of the core dynamics of Bónyai’s practice: a sustained inquiry into the boundaries of identity and existence, and the visual possibilities of imprint, erasure, and enigma.