Katarína Hallonová
Wire was not considered a material sufficient for making artworks. Originally, tinkery used wire only for practical purposes. Wire in visual art in Slovakia appeared rather late. Even now, artworks from wire are relatively rare. Wire is passion for Emanuel Hodál (1948) who understands the material and makes magnificent sculptures from it.
He has no bounds to the tinkery region. He has shown talent for art from his early childhood. When he had failed to study at a secondary applied arts school, he became a sewing machines serviceman. He often changed jobs and was fulfilling his unrealised ambition at the same time – he painted and made sculptures from wood and stone. A reference to tinkery made in the late 1990s took him to wire. He veered toward the new material with a specific character and unusual features, unlike classic materials used for sculptures. Utility items were not in the centre of his work. His creative endeavours focused on very demanding, three-dimensional figures. Emanuel Hodál´s method is spontaneous and passionate. He works intuitively, with no sketches and drawings. He has perfect sense for space and for proportions and composition. He likes doing experiments. Hodál uses traditional tinkery techniques and strictly adheres to the purity of craft. He avoids suing soldering and welding joints. He usually works with steel wire – a traditional material with no surface coating. The figures he creates are often craftspeople and wine makers. He often returns to cocks and horses and his workshop is full of nativity scenes in various versions. During the ten-year period of working with wire, Emanuel Hodál made hundreds of minor sculptures and decorative items and over eighty larger or large wire figures. He started to work for the ÚĽUV as a folk art producer in the 1990s. In 2008, Emanuel Hodál was awarded the title Master of folk art production in wire production for his contribution to the protection and development of traditional tinkery figure art.