Sacred and Profane Love 1947

Editor: So, this is "Sacred and Profane Love" by Endre Rozsda, from 1947. It's a mixed media piece, including collage and acrylic, I think. It feels really chaotic, like a deconstruction of form. What do you see in it? Curator: Immediately, I'm drawn to the varied textures and materials Rozsda employs. The layering of collage elements with acrylic paint suggests a conscious effort to challenge traditional painting conventions. It prompts the question: how do these combined materials reflect the post-war climate of resourcefulness and experimentation? Editor: That’s interesting. So the choice of materials itself is making a statement about something beyond just aesthetics? Curator: Precisely. Consider the title: "Sacred and Profane Love." This wasn’t produced in a vacuum. How does the choice of potentially 'low-brow' or readily available materials in the collage process play against notions of the "sacred" in art making, often associated with high art materials and skill? Editor: So the "profane" aspect isn’t just about the subject, but the very act of creation, maybe a democratization of art? Curator: Exactly! Think about the labor involved in gathering these disparate elements. It's not just the artist's hand but also speaks to the social context of material culture after World War II, where the means of production and consumption were being renegotiated. How does that awareness shape your experience of the piece? Editor: I didn’t think about it that way before, but knowing that, it gives a completely new meaning to the "chaos." It's not just random, it’s a conscious deconstruction of the art-making process itself! Thanks, that really shifted my perspective. Curator: And in turn, examining the materiality prompts us to consider art not as isolated object, but rather as embedded in larger systems of production and meaning.