The groups of works on display, from stelae and tabulae to earth paintings and handmade clay-paper collages, use earth solutions in various forms and processes. The stelae and tabulae are clay objects finished in the artist’s wood-fired kiln as results of several years of research presented earlier under the overall heading “Liquid earth”. Using soil samples she extracted from the volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Balaton Uplands, Néma created unique porcelain and stoneware objects, on which the glazes were deposited in a picturesque manner.

She also uses these natural pigment materials as paint for her “soil images” and, most recently, cooperating with Petra Füzes at Orfű Mills, she has combined the collected samples with the substance of paper. Clays and minerals, mixed into handcrafted paper, have resulted in special visual effects, textures and patterns. The outcome of this process, ranging from dynamic and macrocosmic streams to monochromatic, elementary and unostentatious surfaces, is always singular and unrepeatable. These lyrical compositions, through overlapping, masking and supplementing various sheets of claypaper invented by the artist as her own idiosyncratic medium, offer glimpses into the poetic alchemy of Júlia Néma.

– Zita Sárvári, curator and artistic director