Gémes, Péter: Triptych (1987–1990)

Péter Gémes (b. 1951 in Budapest) is one of the outstanding exponents of the use of photographs in the Hungarian visual arts. He died in 1996 at the height of his career. He developed his own manner of creating images in the early 1980s: staging scenes full of mythological and philosophical allusions in a darkened workspace, such as a private stage or a darkroom, using friends or family members (and himself) as players. The sets were lit by one solitary flashlight, and a mounted camera took a long exposure. He then took the resulting negatives and videos and formed further compositions with these, arranging or layering them, then re-enlarging them. Photo canvas allowed for bigger enlargements than photographic paper, allowing the final works to aim for the dimensions and quality of paintings. In Triptych, the scene centers on a crowned figure sitting on a throne, sorrounded by a little child blowing a whistle, an empty suit of armor, and an annunciator-angel touching the shoulder of the “king.” The two side panels serve as ornaments: the two male figures enlarged and superimposed onto one another, each holding a tree and a Greek ship model, form a symmetrical composition that rounds off either side of the picture.