QUOTATIONS

I use OYTIΣ (No one) as an artist's pseudonym. It was the Homeric hero Odysseus, who fought the Cyclops, had used this name, and had put out the monster's eye. I imagine that poster is nothing else but an Odysseus' gesture: some kind of attack upon the eye.

 *
There are things I can imagine and I can draw. There are things I can imagine but I cannot draw. But, could I draw something that I cannot imagine? That interests me greatly.

 *

At an opening
or the commute

I'll somewhere
note your salute.
Pardoning deceit 
but it won't be me
it is only my similarity.
And you, a resemblance,
might happen to be
viewing my works in
this gallery.

*

Among the crumpled paint tubes

the half or more or less squeezed out tempera
the small aquarell cakes arranged by colour
flasks jars
and God knows among how many
bottles of ink
and tools all for different purposes
and in the thick of the jugful of smaller and wider brushes
(this sable brush is good for retouch
the thick one over there is for washing)
and the fine graphite tips
kept safe oh so well
and among the rough charcoals
and the coloured pencils
organized by the spectrum range
and the pen-nibs kept in match boxes
(separated according to thickness
as needed for writing drawing ruling)
stylus blades lino knives erasers
straight curved long and short rulers
polishing and buffering papers
blotters rags bench hooks
glues awls chemicals
and among the different pushpins
and the compasses tube pens script pens
a modelling wood printing block? (how did it end up here)
among the masses of  abundantly scattered
paper knives  twine elastic bands
gummed strips scalpels and scissors
and among the huge piles of expensive handmade pressed
or colored ribbed grained
marbleized layered watermarked
papers which gather here in sheets and rolls
and the  fine copper the zinc the aluminium
the lavish boxwood and soft lino blocks
and among the oh-so-heavy
lithography stones
tell me have we not lost something here
my friend?

 *
reach into the electric meter box from below
take out the key push it into the lock with the notches up
turn the key step inside
gropefor the light switch
turn left go up the stairs
step over the pile of blank frames
do not trip over the easel
(the space is quite narrow)
go to the drawing table push the chair aside
kneel down
take out the third folder
(grey marble paper cover)
stand up untie both binding bows
take out the uppermost sheet
take it to the pedestal place it onto it
go to the cupboard between the windows
open the lowermost drawer
take out the middle mirror cylinder
(use cotton gloves
you will find it in the pocket
of the cloak hung on the window handle)
place it onto the picture laid on the pedestal
step back lean forward
choose the right viewpoint
find the best angle of view
where the reflection is immaculate
light a cigarette blow out the smoke
look at the picture from the other side as well
put out the cigarette (ashtray on the radiator)
put the cylinder back to the lower drawer (gloves)
put the paper into the marble cover folder
tie the bows
squat and place the folder back to its place
stand up turn around
step over the pile of blank frames
go down the stairs
turn right switch off the lights
step out the door lock it (notches)
leave the key in the electric meter box

*

Exactly like this       was this paper

Blank of course        and wholly white 
To imagine now how    nothing was there 
You lift off these      eight lines 
Or erase them        shake or blow them off 
Make them never written       never imagined 
These fifty-one words      two hundred forty letters 
To turn back          squandered time

(Translation: Jennifer Keller, Pesti Zsuzsa, Orta Gabriella)