Postcards of Memory - from Debrecen (3)

3. Milk-Shop and Mackó Cheese


When I was a kid, we used to go to the milk-shop every morning. As our house was in the same block, in the Court-Yard house, we could walk there without crossing the road. My parents let me go there on my own when I started kindergarten. I stood in line and when my turn came, the lady in white coat, with a beautiful shade of lipstick, ladled the fresh milk into my milk-can. I bought some croissants for my family and a box of triangular shaped cheese. One of the cheese brands is still available in Hungary. The Mackó (Bear) on the seal is a waiter, wearing a bow-tie and tuxedo. This special mixture of seriousness and playfulness makes me remember my childhood. Now, several decades later, living at the other end of the world I caught myself always buying Mackó cheese whenever I visit back to Hungary. I just can't throw the seals away. I keep them, I make drawings of them. This is how I started to paint Mackó paintings - using watercolour, Chinese ink or oil paint. On some of these pictures I write children's rhymes in Japanese or in Hungarian. I believe, that - in a serious and playful sense - what I am doing is: translating Mackó cheese (the image and the experience) into Japanese.