Janet Haven

My friend and colleague Jerzy Celichowski has the soul of an artist; his Budapest flat is filled with pictures and paintings that give the feel of an ecletic, homey gallery as well as a family's residence. Over the upright piano, Jerzy has hung a painting of wise-looking dog with a tiny erection surrounded by cherubs; the picture is unframed and both simple -- almost like a child's drawing -- and strange enough to pause in front of, repeatedly. I always spend several minutes admiring the dog when I visit Jerzy and his wife Orsi.

The artist, Emil Für, is Hungarian, and tends to paint angels, Central European Jewish men, mobile phones, circus escapees, and potent devils, often in surprising combinations. I confess I have no idea what the paintings are about, but his paintings are by far my favorite from a contemporary Hungarian artist (though barely surpassing the recent enthusiasm in our household for that other fabulous Hungarian artist, photographer Dezső Szabó.)

Für's paintings combine a flat, folk-art sensibility with characters who use modern appliances (mobile phones are clutched even by angels in his world) and take off their clothes at the drop of a hat. When they do wear clothes, they are at extremes: either goofy (see the devil from "Tempation" to the right, clad only in spotted blue underpants) or, as in the case of many of Für's Jews, religiously black, white, and providing neck-to-ankles coverage.

Angels are everywhere in Für's pictures, either as subject or standing guard in pairs above the action. Many of Für's subjects are Jewish, but it's entirely unclear whether the angels are as well. I usually think of angels in terms of Christian iconography, but angels of course litter the Old Testament, stepping out of burning bushes and wrestling with troublemakers. They also, I've just discovered, appear throughout Jewish teachings, although the interpretation of their role is varied. Angel in Hebrew (mal'ach) means "messenger", and indeed, it seems that angels continue to play that role both in the the Torah and in Jewish writings. However, Rabbi David Wolpe, in an article on angels and Judaism, explains that some medevial Jewish commentators explained angels as " necessary because they perform tasks that are beneath the dignity of God's 'personal involvement.'" That is, they act as a sort of PA/project manager for God. I like this explanation best, in light of Emil Für's paintings, because it seems to make sense: there's so much watching over in his art that God himself couldn't possibly get involved -- but the angels themselves, armed with mobile phones for quick reporting, are nearly always present.

More recent paintings and drawings can be found here.
Emil Für's site is here.