Andre Kertesz, A Hungarian Master
03 October 2010
29 September 2010
26 September 2010
Image of the Weekend
Work by a young photographer who doesn't own a camera--please contact me for more information!
25 September 2010
24 September 2010
Imre Nagy at Grazer Kunstverein
At the Studio of the Grazer Kunstverein, Imre Nagy (*1975) shows new works
The artist uses materials such as wood, paper, adhesive tape or plexiglass to produce sculptures. Through subtle interventions and combinations, they appear fragile and exemplary. The patterns of their construction sometimes recall permeability and openness of earlier modernistic space experiments. The choice of ephemeral building material relativizes this reference by adding a speculative and temporary attitude.
Nagy's works produce formal as well as content-related relationships between spacial-architectural and spiritual areas of practices. The quality of these relationships is manifested in their instability which is deliberately open for permanent modification and interrogation.
At second sight, some of the works in the Graz presentation put into relationship between contentual and formal aspects of the surrounding space; either with one of the publications displayed in the Studio, or with one part of the furniture of the gallery.
20 September 2010
03 May 2010
Random Thoughts: Designing the Road Ahead
From the "Things You Can't Do Anything About, But Would Like To" file:
NY State is "re-introducing" a license plate design that was used from the mid 70s to the mid 80s:
Why? Why the American obsession with retro? Why not move ahead, and introduce a contemporary re-design...
...something inspired by the elegant efficiency of the German plates...
...or the futuristic British tags...
...or the timeless, sophisticated, suave Swiss design...
Why reminisce about an era that was by all accounts a low point in NY's history?
It may seem a microscopic speck of a problem compared to the mammoth ones that the U.S. is facing, but sometimes a tiny design tweek can inspire significant attitude re-adjustment....which might not be such a bad idea...
NY State is "re-introducing" a license plate design that was used from the mid 70s to the mid 80s:
Why? Why the American obsession with retro? Why not move ahead, and introduce a contemporary re-design...
...something inspired by the elegant efficiency of the German plates...
...or the futuristic British tags...
...or the timeless, sophisticated, suave Swiss design...
Why reminisce about an era that was by all accounts a low point in NY's history?
It may seem a microscopic speck of a problem compared to the mammoth ones that the U.S. is facing, but sometimes a tiny design tweek can inspire significant attitude re-adjustment....which might not be such a bad idea...
15 December 2009
Artdaily.org - The First Art Newspaper on the Net
Prime Example of the type of public art projects InterUrban seeks to create...2010!
Artdaily.org - The First Art Newspaper on the Net
Artdaily.org - The First Art Newspaper on the Net
30 November 2009
Hungarian artists at JCE Young European Artists Biennale
Ten Hungarian artists were featured in the recent Biennale held in Montrouge, France by JCE, which has been weaving its web in the European artistic community since 2000. The Hungarian artists work can be viewed here...
This sculpture, titled "Growing Structures, The Metamorphoses of the Material" a collaboration between Janos Mihaly HUBLER, Marta RACZ, Tamas SZENTIRMAI, and Janos VAGI was the winner of the Grand Prix Prize at the Biennale. More information about the work available here...
This sculpture, titled "Growing Structures, The Metamorphoses of the Material" a collaboration between Janos Mihaly HUBLER, Marta RACZ, Tamas SZENTIRMAI, and Janos VAGI was the winner of the Grand Prix Prize at the Biennale. More information about the work available here...
28 November 2009
16 July 2009
Henkel.Art.Award
Three Hungarian artists have been chosen to represent Hungary in the prestigious Henkel.Art.Award competition. They are:
Katinka Agnes Kiss
http://www.finearthotel.hu/en/muveszek.php?id=12
Barbara Nagy
Hajnalka Tarr
They were chosen from a pool of 101 applicants by a jury of Hungarian contemporary art professionals.
The competition's winners will be announced at a gala in Vienna on 25 November.
The winners will receive a 7'000 Euro award and an exhibition at MUMOK in Vienna as well as in their home country.
The Henkel Art.Award. is the only comprehensive art promotion prize for the regions of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Artists from 31 countries are invited to submit their entries to win the prize.
Katinka Agnes Kiss
http://www.finearthotel.hu/en/muveszek.php?id=12
Barbara Nagy
Hajnalka Tarr
They were chosen from a pool of 101 applicants by a jury of Hungarian contemporary art professionals.
The competition's winners will be announced at a gala in Vienna on 25 November.
The winners will receive a 7'000 Euro award and an exhibition at MUMOK in Vienna as well as in their home country.
The Henkel Art.Award. is the only comprehensive art promotion prize for the regions of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Artists from 31 countries are invited to submit their entries to win the prize.
04 April 2009
Reka's Lucky Draw--New Work!
Reka Reisinger is donating a photograph to the Lucky Draw benefit at the Sculpture Center in Long Island City.
The benefit will take place on Tuesday, April 7th and everyone who buys a ticket gets to take home a piece of art.
The Sculpture Center will also be open for a free preview of the works on the same day at noon.
Information about tickets is available here
The image above is the new work that Reka is donating.
01 April 2009
Zsolt Bodoni
Igyunk Sort/Drink Beer-2008-oil & acrylic on canvas-40x50cm
Congratulations to Zsolt Bodoni for securing representation with Mihai Nicodim's gallery in Los Angeles. A solo show is planned for early May. More info here
He will also be featured in the Prague Biennale. Follow links on the Nicodim website for more information.
And that's not all! In June, Zsolt, Peter Sudar and Roland Horvath will be a part of an exhibition in London being curated by Jane Neal, the Oxford-based freelance journalist and critic. Her special focus over the past year has been the developing art scene in Central and Eastern Europe. She contributes to a wide variety of international art publications. More on this show later.
25 January 2009
Fine Art Hotel
I've recently become acquainted with a brilliant website concept which was started by a group of artists from Zalaegerszeg, Hungary (in SW Hungary, more or less equidistant from both Budapest and Vienna--apx 2 hrs from each). Apparently there is an active contemporary art community in this small city of 60,000 (which I've never visited...but now my interest has been piqued).
Finearthotel.hu opened in the Autumn of 2006 with the goal of providing a virtual creative haven for Hungarian
artists to debut and exhibit their work. All of the artists are graduates of, or currently students at, various
Hungarian Art Academies and Colleges. They self-select the works found on finearthotel.hu.
The site hosts the profiles of 13 lucky artists. It is well designed and offers easy access to images and bios both in English and Hungarian.
This is the first site I have seen that has gathered young Hungarian artists under "one roof" and promoted them in such a clear, professional format.
InterUrban is exploring collaborations with the Finearthotel, and you'll be hearing more about it in coming posts. Until then, I highly recommend a visit.
Check-in to the Fine Art Hotel here
One of the artists whose work immediately caught my eye is Ágnes Gazdag.
19 January 2009
Reka Reisinger News
+Minnewaska.jpg)
Reka's work continues to generate increasing interest amongst curators, collectors, connoisseurs, and the curious.
If you are anywhere near upstate NY or need a reason to plan a visit, Reka is going to have some pieces in a group show at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. The opening will be this Saturday January 24th, from 5-7pm. You can find more information and a press release about the show here.
Reka will also have works in THE COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO EMERGING ART PHOTOGRAPHY , published by the Humble Arts Foundation. You can preview it and order copies of it online here:
Humble Arts Foundation
Congratulations, Reka!
16 January 2009
"The notion of national schools or styles is meaningless"...
...according to Iwona Blazwick, director of London's Whitechapel Gallery.
The earliest relic of Hungarian painting is this 12th century fresco found in the church in Feldebrő
The quote from Ms Blazwick is taken from Sarah Thornton's entertaining and informative book "Seven Days in the Art World".
What does this statement mean in the context of trying to promote artists from a particular country? Do the artists that InterUrbanArt is promoting have anything in common besides Hungarian surnames? Are they bound by an underlying Hungarian sensibility? Does it matter if they are or aren't?
Another point that is raised by Thornton is that "quaint ideas of nationhood are collapsing under the weight of globalization". She is specifically referring to national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, but the thought can certainly be extended to galleries and just about any other business, cultural, or social institution.
Again I wonder---is it true, and if it is, does it matter in the context of promoting a group of artists that are Hungarian (or any other nationality) by heritage?
Would it be any different if InterUrban was promoting a group of Hungarian vocalists (one of whom sang opera, the other jazz, the other rap)...or sportsmen?
For me, the "take-away" from these questions is that first and foremost, InterUrban isn't about promoting the notion of a Hungarian school or style. Rather, we are promoting a group of artists that we believe in, and believe deserve exposure.
We are certainly proud that they have Hungarian heritage, but that is not the fuel that drives our ambition. Rather, the art that they create is the fuel, and their heritage is the spark that lights it.
HAVING SAID THAT
...it is very worthwhile to have a look at Thomas I. Nonn's "Modern Hungarian Painting" on the Kieselbach website:
Thomas I. Nonn
A quote that jumps out:
"it can safely be stated that many Hungarian painters evolved in a modern formalistic direction and that at least a few of them could be considered significant innovators whose life-work in many ways paralleled that of world-renowned Western artists. Yet these Hungarian painters are generally unknown to the Western World"...
And begs the question: why do they, to this day, remain unknown?
ANOTHER BLAZWICK INSIGHT...
(Interestingly, all of these "revelations" come on two pages (242-43) of "Seven Days in the Art World")
Says she of her experience at the 2007 Venice Biennale:
"I walked into the Hungarian pavilion and walked straight out again"..."I thought, 'Six black boxes. I can't be bothered. I haven't got the time.'" Thankfully, she returned to the pavilion, by thirty year old Andras Fogarasi , and discovered that each black box contained a video that was "a very quiet, complex, poetic and funny meditation on the failure of utopia."
2007 Hungarian Pavilion "Culture and Leisure"
I would be very curious to know what inspired Ms Blazwick to return to the pavilion. Did she go back before or after it was announced that the Hungarian Pavilion had won the Golden Lion award for Best National Participation? And just as, or even more curious to know whether the Hungarian pavilion will be on her "must see" list this year. Ultimately, I'm MOST curious if she would consider putting together a show by a Hungarian artist at Whitechapel.
The earliest relic of Hungarian painting is this 12th century fresco found in the church in Feldebrő
The quote from Ms Blazwick is taken from Sarah Thornton's entertaining and informative book "Seven Days in the Art World".
What does this statement mean in the context of trying to promote artists from a particular country? Do the artists that InterUrbanArt is promoting have anything in common besides Hungarian surnames? Are they bound by an underlying Hungarian sensibility? Does it matter if they are or aren't?
Another point that is raised by Thornton is that "quaint ideas of nationhood are collapsing under the weight of globalization". She is specifically referring to national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, but the thought can certainly be extended to galleries and just about any other business, cultural, or social institution.
Again I wonder---is it true, and if it is, does it matter in the context of promoting a group of artists that are Hungarian (or any other nationality) by heritage?
Would it be any different if InterUrban was promoting a group of Hungarian vocalists (one of whom sang opera, the other jazz, the other rap)...or sportsmen?
For me, the "take-away" from these questions is that first and foremost, InterUrban isn't about promoting the notion of a Hungarian school or style. Rather, we are promoting a group of artists that we believe in, and believe deserve exposure.
We are certainly proud that they have Hungarian heritage, but that is not the fuel that drives our ambition. Rather, the art that they create is the fuel, and their heritage is the spark that lights it.
HAVING SAID THAT
...it is very worthwhile to have a look at Thomas I. Nonn's "Modern Hungarian Painting" on the Kieselbach website:
Thomas I. Nonn
A quote that jumps out:
"it can safely be stated that many Hungarian painters evolved in a modern formalistic direction and that at least a few of them could be considered significant innovators whose life-work in many ways paralleled that of world-renowned Western artists. Yet these Hungarian painters are generally unknown to the Western World"...
And begs the question: why do they, to this day, remain unknown?
ANOTHER BLAZWICK INSIGHT...
(Interestingly, all of these "revelations" come on two pages (242-43) of "Seven Days in the Art World")
Says she of her experience at the 2007 Venice Biennale:
"I walked into the Hungarian pavilion and walked straight out again"..."I thought, 'Six black boxes. I can't be bothered. I haven't got the time.'" Thankfully, she returned to the pavilion, by thirty year old Andras Fogarasi , and discovered that each black box contained a video that was "a very quiet, complex, poetic and funny meditation on the failure of utopia."
2007 Hungarian Pavilion "Culture and Leisure"
I would be very curious to know what inspired Ms Blazwick to return to the pavilion. Did she go back before or after it was announced that the Hungarian Pavilion had won the Golden Lion award for Best National Participation? And just as, or even more curious to know whether the Hungarian pavilion will be on her "must see" list this year. Ultimately, I'm MOST curious if she would consider putting together a show by a Hungarian artist at Whitechapel.
20 December 2008
Wishing you a Joyous Festive Season
(c) Reka Reisinger
InterUrbanArt wishes you a peaceful, glorious holiday season in the company of your loved ones -
and for the New Year, everything that you wish for.
While you are relaxing over the holidays (maybe with your new MacBook, iMac, or iPhone), please peruse links to works by two artists that InterUrbanArt will be working with in 2009, in addition to Reka Reisinger, Nandor Losonci and the Budapest Art Factory.
Maximillian Toth
Erika Somogyi
29 October 2008
Attila Csörgo takes the prize
Hungarian artist Attila Csörgo, a creator of "visual machines" is the winner of the €25,000 prize awarded by the Kunststiftung NRW, a German cultural foundation created by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The fourth annual Nam June Paik Award is a juried honor intended "to keep alive the still powerful creative energy of the work of Nam June Paik both in Germany and overseas."
http://www.namjunepaikaward.de/
Attila Csörgö is one of the most prominent contemporary artists practising in Hungary today. His works are immediately entertaining but raise profound questions about how we construct our vision of the world.
Attila works with lights and photography, kinetic structures and changeable geometrical forms. Csörgo presents the reality of systems and phenomena that we normally do not admit. By observing ordinary phenomena under extraordinary conditions, Csörgo creates experiments, often surprising and entertaining, to foreground questions about perception and how we construct our vision of the world. Slanting Water (1995) is Csörgo’s key early work, almost foundational for all his later practice. In this photograph, two glasses filled with water sit on a table. The photograph appears to have been artificially altered, as the water slants in opposite directions in the two glasses. This effect is not an illusion, however; it was created by spinning the table on which the glasses and camera all stood, so that the water was pictured in a centrifuge.
Congratulations, Attila!
Attila Csorgo Official Website
http://www.namjunepaikaward.de/
Attila Csörgö is one of the most prominent contemporary artists practising in Hungary today. His works are immediately entertaining but raise profound questions about how we construct our vision of the world.
Attila works with lights and photography, kinetic structures and changeable geometrical forms. Csörgo presents the reality of systems and phenomena that we normally do not admit. By observing ordinary phenomena under extraordinary conditions, Csörgo creates experiments, often surprising and entertaining, to foreground questions about perception and how we construct our vision of the world. Slanting Water (1995) is Csörgo’s key early work, almost foundational for all his later practice. In this photograph, two glasses filled with water sit on a table. The photograph appears to have been artificially altered, as the water slants in opposite directions in the two glasses. This effect is not an illusion, however; it was created by spinning the table on which the glasses and camera all stood, so that the water was pictured in a centrifuge.
Congratulations, Attila!
Attila Csorgo Official Website
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