Ilona Lénárd

FLOW sculpture | work in progress October 2025

Design concept

The FLOW sculpture is based on impulsive, rapid sketches by Ilona Lénárd. The starting point for the FLOW sketches is a rapid, intuitive, flowing gesture with alternating centrifugal (lobes) and centripetal (nuclei) movements. The graphic FLOW sketches were then transformed into the FLOW components, which together form a complex whole. The FLOW sculpture represents the dynamics of the TILIA organization [the Client]. The stainless steel FLOW components are interconnected and together form a coherent swarm, much like the employees of a company are interconnected and collaborate according to agreed-upon rules and procedures. The resulting visual image of the 18 interconnected components is an open structure oriented in different directions. The FLOW sketches are inspired by the characteristic Szécesszió style elements of the former girls’ school. The arrangement of linear connections between the FLOW components echoes the angular zigzag lines of the new extension. Moreover, the FLOW components represent the leaves of a tree, each leaf being unique yet created through the same generative process. Thus, the FLOW sculpture brings together various elements of the surrounding environment—the Szécesszió style elements, the architectural language of the new building, and the natural trees in the passage—in an intriguingly complex whole. The FLOW sculpture continually offers surprising new images when viewed from up close and far away, from the side, from the left or right, and from above, from the balcony. The FLOW sculpture aims to represent the spatial and organizational dynamics of the TILIA company.

FLOW sculpture | rendering

Project description

The stainless steel FLOW components are 60-90cm long and 8mm to 15mm thick. The components are waterjet-cut, and the original sketch is engraved on the FLOW component. We have provided a precise three-dimensional drawing of the component’s shape, the notches at 90°, 75°, and 60° angles, respectively, according to the thickness of the stainless steel plates to be inserted, and the engraved sketch lines. The entire project is an example of effective file-to-factory processing. After computer-controlled production, the 18 stainless steel FLOW components are slid together snugly through notches in the interconnected components, creating a structurally sound unit. The components slide together along the bisectors of the centripetal lobes of the FLOW components. The components of the FLOW sculpture weigh between 30 and 40 kg each, with a thickness ranging from 8 mm for the top components to 15 mm for the bottom components.

Pool of 32 FLOW components | the orange components are used for the assembly

example of one of the stainless steel components | sketch is engraved in the surface

Design: Ilona Lénárd and Kas Oosterhuis

Client: Kész Group

Structural designer: BIM Group

Contractor: Kész Group

Location: Tilia offices, Szeged

Year: 2025

My book Powerlines is a comprehensive documentation of  my paintings from the period between 1998 and 2019. I have worked in different locations and cultures, which is reflected by the  gradual evolution from the Flow paintings to the Pattern series. As from the Flow series I have predominantly worked with acrylic markers with a wide tip, that are typically used  by graffiti artists. I have adopted a working method that can be described as a form of abstract calligraphy. Also, elements of procedural painting can be found in my work. I spread out the canvases on the ground, working all around and on the painting as to add layer by layer. The most recent Pattern paintings are documented in the beginning of the book, while the earlier Flow series are found towards the end. A special place in this book is reserved for the  Machining Emotion robotic paintings, a collaborative effort together with architects and designer-programmers, working with a large industrial robot to hold and drive the acrylic markers.

Gestures  > Paintings > Carpets

The speed of my gestures is essential to my working process, I want to avoid deliberate thinking, I need to surprise myself while painting.

I  paint with speed and force by releasing intuitive and energetic series of procedural gestures, leaving traces of acrylic markers and pattern rollers on the canvases.

I spread out the canvas on the floor of the studio,

I work around and on the painting, adding layer by layer to achieve a universal depth in the painting.

The tufted carpets are digitally constructed interpretations of my earlier paintings

The Victory Boogie Woogie painting by Mondrian is clearly inspired by the busy streets and urban blocks of Manhattan. In her recent 3d printed series of MyMondrian Ilona Lénárd pushes Mondrian’s last unfinished painting into the third dimension, therewith evoking the image of urban blocks and street canyons.

The colour fields of the Victory Boogie Woogie are translated using Rhino / Grasshopper visual programming into different heights for the smaller and bigger squares. The path of the 3d printing head is designed to randomly wiggle and sway along its course as to avoid a too clinical build-up of the layers.

The first 3d printed version is the MyMondrian Black, produced by 3D Robot Printing in Rotterdam. A black polypropylene mix is pumped into the printed end-effector of a big robot arm, which printed layer for layer the large work of art in a number of pieces that fit together to form the whole.

For the printing procedure pure gcode was written by ONL / Hyperbody alumnus Arwin Hidding, therewith bypassing proprietary firmware with its built-in limitations how to operate the robot arm. The challenge set by the artist directly inspired a technical innovation in 3d robotic printing !