Paul Hartal
Paul Hartal is a Canadian painter and poet, born in Szeged, Hungary. He has created the term "Lyrical Conceptualism" to characterize his style in both painting and poetry.
Biographical Information
Hartal emigrated to Israel in 1957 and on to Montreal, Quebec in 1973. He earned a B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964, an M.A. from Concordia University in 1977, and a Ph.D. in Education and Art from Columbia Pacific University, San Rafael, California in 1986. In 1987 Hartal founded the Centre for Art, Science, and Technology in Montreal, which he directs.Hartal paints in an expressionistic style with additional elements such as photographs.
Hartal exhibited his paintings internationally, including galleries and museums in Paris, New York, Seoul, Budapest and Montreal. In 1978 he showed his work at the Musee du Luxembourg in the French capital and his painting, Flowers for Cezanne won the Prix de Paris. As a writer, Hartal has authored books of poetry, nonfiction, as well as the illustrated novel,The Kidnapping of the Painter Miro, which has also been published in Mandarin Chinese translation.
Selected Exhibitions
2016 -- A.S Popov Central Museum of Communication, St. Petersburg, Russia, International Mail Art Show2007-- Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
2005 -- Musée du Chateau Ramezay Museum group show, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 8
2004 -- Hanseo University Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea ,
2002 -- Cho Sang-Hyun and Paul Hartal, Duo, Centre des loisirs, Saint Laurent, Montréal, Québec,
2002 -- Gallery Eve, solo show, Seoul, South Korea
2001 -- Lincoln Center, New York and R.W. Johnson University of Medicine, NJ. : Three Americas
2000 --Adell McMillan Gallery, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA, Love and Cosmos
1999 -- Gallery Alef, Montréal, Québec, The Hidden Orchard
1998 -- Dansung Gallery, --Cho Sang Hyun and Paul Hartal, Blankism and Lyrical Conceptualism, Seoul, South Korea, 17
1997 -- Galerie Michel-Ange, Montréal, Québec,
1996 -- Muestra Biennal d'Art, Alcoi, Spain
1995 -- Havana National Museum, Cuba
1995 -- Essence, Queensland College Art Gallery, Griffith University, Australia
1995 -- Seoul International Fine Art Center, South Korea
1994 -- Space Week International, Invitational Juried, NASA Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
1994 -- "Tribute to Paul Hartal's Works, Municipal Library, Saint-Laurent, Québec
1994 -- Galerie Fokus, Montréal, Québec
1993 -- Timbres d'artistes, Musée de la Poste, Paris, France
1992 -- Space and Humanity. Montreux, Switzerland
1992 -- Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York, USA, Rain Drop
1991 -- Eco Museum, Savona, Italy
1991 -- Centro Culturale, Florence, Italy
1990 -- Space Art, Sion Museum, Sion, Switzerland
1990 -- Visions of Space, OURS Project, Montreux, Switzerland
1989 -- Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington, USA
1989 -- Munson, Williams=Proctor Institute, New York, NY, USA
1989 -- Micro Hall Art Center, Edewecht, Germany
1989 -- Contemporary Gallery, Aono, Matsuyama City, Japan
1988 -- Olympic Art, invitational, Canada's entry in the 24th Olympiad, Seoul, South Korea
1983 -- Centre Psycho-Social , University of Lausanne, Switzerland
1983 -- "Painted Melodies", Galerie Studio J. Yahouda Meir, Montréal, Québec
1980 -- Vehicule Art, Montréal, Québec: International Concrete Poetry Exhibition,organized by Tom Konyves and the Lyrical Conceptualist Society
1980 -- Art Montréal: Tele-Art de Vehicule Art
1979 -- Atelier 2101, Montréal, Québec, Vernissage
1978 -- Luxembourg Museum, Paris, France,
1978 -- His painting, "Flowers for Cézanne" wins the Prix de Paris
1978 -- Exhibits also at the Académie Raymond Duncan in Paris and the Ligoa Duncan Galleries in New York
1975 -- Jacquie Gallery, Montréal, Québec, Lyrical Conceptualism
Lyco Art: Hartal’s Art Theory
Lyco art, or lyrical conceptualism, is a term coined by Hartal.In 1975, Hartal published A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism, introducing Lycoism as a new art idea on the “periodic table of art.” In this work, Hartal proposes a theory of art which runs contrary to what he claims is the traditional belief, that emotion and intellect are at odds with each other.
In Mazes for the Mind, Clifford Pickover draws attention to Hartal's view that we need the imagination, the insight, and the lateral reasoning faculty, as well as human values, which are excluded from the rigid methodology of science but are intrinsic to art: "The present human condition calls for the rise of a new, inclusive form of culture in which art should play a most prominent role."
The art critic Balint Szombathy notes that lyrical conceptualism encapsulates no less a fusion of polarities than the term-amalgams of lyrical expressionism, or lyrical abstraction. It is possible to characterize these diametrically opposed juxtapositions, he says, as attempts to equalize incompatible elements for the sake of synthesis.
However, in introducing the notion of Lycoism, Hartal did not intend to form a new post-conceptualist splinter-trend; instead, his intention was the creation of a new philosophy of art in which the tearing down of the boundaries between art and science, the interlacement of the intuitive and the exact, and incorporation of the lyrical and the geometrical play a central role.
Concepts and Ideals of Lyco Art
Lyco art identifies the meaning of art with its life-serving purpose. Concerning itself with cultural transformation and the human condition, it seeks to expand the boundaries of aesthetics.Lyco Art creates a conscious bridge between the impulsive, intuitional, and planned elements of the creative process, thereby moving along the whole continuum of formative energies. This creative process represents the interaction of emotion and intellect, wherein the passion of logic and the logic of passion are inexorably interwoven through the voyage of aesthetic consciousness.
In applying theory to practice in design and painting, Lycoism finds its expression in coded colors and forms. Accordingly, warm hues and amorphous shapes might correspond to emotion and the irrational, while cold colors and geometric forms might express the rational and the logical.
In addition, since science and technology impact so much of modern lifestyle during the electronic age, Lycoism views the relationship of art, science, and technology as a pivotal concern. Lycoism refuses to polarize science and art; instead, it seeks to unify aesthetics and ethics in works which involve the use of science and technology by the artist in the creation of beauty.
In accordance with these premises, Hartal formed The Centre for Art, Science and Technology in Montreal during the 1980s. The Centre has implemented a variety of interdisciplinary projects exploring the connections between several branches of arts and sciences, including painting, poetry, music, architecture, communication, artificial intelligence, mathematics, cosmology, and space exploration.
Gallery
Books and Monographs
-- The Kidnapping of the Painter Miró. New York and Montreal: Elore Publications, 1997, 2001Chinese edition, translated by Dr. CK Thomas Tseng, "Art Museum" series, The Commercial Press, Taiwan, 2014
-- The Sinuosity of Straight Passions. Georgetown, KY, Finishing Line Press, 2013
-- Postmodern Light: A Collection of Poetry. Montreal and San Diego: Orange Monad Editions, 2006
-- Love Poems. Montreal: Galerie Fokus; Companion Book to Exhibition, Seoul: Hanseo University, 2004
-- Lyrical Conceptualism 1973-2003, Seoul: Hanseo University, 2004
-- Works on Paper, Seoul International Fine Arts Center, 2002
-- The Hidden Orchard: Love and Cosmos. Montreal: Galerie Alef, 1999. Second edition
-- Visions: Moment in Frame, Limited Edition, Owings Mills, MD, 1998
-- Rain Drop, New York: Ward-Nasse Gallery, Montreal: CAST, 1994
-- The Brush and the Compass: The Interface Dynamics of Art and Science, NY: University Press of America, 1988
-- Black and, concrete poetry, Montréal: Lyrical Conceptualist Society, 1984
-- Painted Melodies: The Visual Form of Music. Montreal: Galerie Yahouda J. Meir, 1983
-- Vernissage. Montréal: Lyrical Conceptualist Society, 1979. Montreal: Atelier 2101 and Vehicule Gallery
-- Seven Concrete Poems, Introduction by Tom Konyves; Montreal: Lyrical Conceptualist Society, 1979
-- Georg Lukács: Aesthetics and History, M.A. thesis, Concordia University, 1977
-- A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism, Montreal: Jacquie Gallery, 1975.
-- A History of Architecture. Jerusalem: R. Mass, 1972
Articles in Periodicals and Book Chapters (selected list)
"A Different Time Zone", The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, Summer 2017“Perceptual Ambiguity and Metaphoric Conceptualization”, Contemporary Philosophy, July/August 1990, 1-4.
“Poems of Distant Skies: Art and Space Exploration”, Pulsar, Space Art Journal, March-April 1990; pp. 2-16
“Space Art or Space Science?” Pulsar, November-December, 1990, pp. 9-11
"Space in Vision, Vision in Space", Ylem, September 1991
“Antares”, Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1992, 211 Vol. 26, No. 2, 1993, MIT Press, pp.170-171
“Homage to a Blue Planet: Aeronautical and Astronomical Artworks”, Leonardo, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1992, Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 211 -215
“Non-Euclidean Visions: Bridging Art and Mathematics”, QAMT Journal, Montreal, February 1993, pp. 24-7
“The Necessity of Art”, Modern Painters, Edited by Karen Wright, London, autumn 1994, p. 111
“Colors from Black and White”, Ylem, January 1993
“The Functional Space Monument”, Ylem, February 1994, pp. 2 and 5
“The Mathematical Aquarium: The Re-humanization of Cybernetic Imagery”, Ylem, August 1992
“Adalbert Ames, Jr., Perceptual Visionary”, Ylem, April 1991, pp. 1-4
“Planetary Consciousness and the Imperative of Space Exploration”, Ylem, January 1992, p. 7
“Venus and Mars”, Ylem, December 1991
"To Humanize the World", Ylem, September 1994
"Bernard 33 in Orion", Ylem, August 1992
“On Bertolt Brecht”, Brecht Unbound, International Bertolt Brecht Symposium, University of Delaware, pp. 34-5
“Space Art”, Orbiter, NASA Space Center Magazine, Houston, January-February 1995, pp. 18-23
“The Songs of the Double-Helix: Symmetry and Lyrical Conceptualism”, Symmetry 2000, Edited by I. Hargittai and T.C. Laurent, London: Portland Press, pp. 503-518
“Foreword”, Communication and Rural Development by J.B. Ambekar, New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1992, ix-xviii
“Abstract Art is Like Math”, The Montreal Gazette, May 19, 1994
“SARS in Perspective”, The Montreal Gazette, April 11, 2003
“Rendering Science More Scientific Through Art”, Lo Straniero, No 19
“Statement on Lyrical Conceptualism”, Art News, November 1977, p. 214
“Lyrical Conceptualism: Expanding the Mutational Phases of Art”, Art in America, Nov-Dec 1976, p. 153
“Art’s Ambiguities”, The Montreal Star, June 30, 1979
“UFOs Were Sighted Centuries Ago”, The Montreal Gazette, August 31.1988
“Philosophy is Often an Inspiration to Scientists and Mathematicians”, The Montreal Gazette, June 19, 1988
“There is a Gap between Our Dreams and Reality”, The Montreal Gazette, September 28, 1984
“New Technology is the Killer of Employment”, The Montreal Gazette, November 18, 1983
“Silly Expressions not so Silly”, The Montreal Gazette, January 9, 2003
“Beware Dangers of Chlorine”, The Montreal Gazette, August 8, 1998
“Roman Roads Helped Free Slaves”, The Montreal Gazette, January 8, 1999
“Martyred Gentiles Are Also Included, The Montreal Gazette, October 18, 1999
Poetry in Anthologies and Books (selected list)
-- “Nevertheless” and other poems in Windfall, Edited by Louisa Persing, Whittier, CA: Palomar, 1975, pp. 91-93-- “Time and Existence”, in Clifford A. Pickover, Time, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 96
-- “Memoirs”, Poetry Canada Review, winter 1989/90, p. 25
-- “The Machine in the Ghost”, A Lampada, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, 1996
-- “Magical Waves”, in Clifford A. Pickover, The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars, Princeton University Press, 2002, p. 394 and p. 396
-- “The Eightfold Way”, The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars, pp. 394, 396
-- “Caesarean Section”, Poetry Canada, August 2004, p. 5
-- “My Life”, The Future Looks Bright, Ed. Tracy Lynn Repchuk, Toronto: Canadian Federation of Poets, 2006, p. 42 -- ---
-- “Various Books and a Black Square”, Selection from 20th Century Visual Poetry, Ed. Z. Kovacs and L. L. Simon, Budapest: Magyar Műhely; 1998, p.111
-- “Einstein’s Formula”, frontispiece in Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius, NY: Quill William Morrow, 1998; p. VI
-- “The Geometry of Love” and other concrete poems in Clifford A. Pickover, Chaos in Wonderland, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1994; p. 102 ---- “Valerie became Kalinda”, p. 115, “Saturn Dance”, p.131, “Into the Unknown”, p. 152; “The Cellist”, p. 200, “Alien with Spheres”, p.137, “Climbers”, p. 168, “Aqueduct”, p. 157,
-- “To a Rain Drop”, The Archer, Ed. Winifred Layton, Salem, OR; spring 1987 p. 23
-- “Fear”, Poetic Realm, Ed. Kay Weems, Artemas, PA, 2000; p. 70
-- “Words and Images”, Brain Cell, Issued by Ryosuke Cohen, Osaka, numerous editions,1988-2011