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Life Drawing and Small Works

The life drawing group, organised by fellow artist Peter Fekete, is getting more lively, though new artists are always welcome to come: here are two new recent pieces of mine. The model was particularly pleased with the one I completed on the right.

Recently I attended an exhibition of Egyed László, at the Örkény Bookshop gallery on St István Körüt: his work is that of a real master. The exhibition venue was very well attended. Most of the pieces were drawn in subtle shades, though others were created using more pronounced outlines and others still were almost minimalist in places:

Earlier on, the host of the life drawing class, Peter Fekete, put on a retrospective show for his late brother, Andrew Fekete, at a private venue, at the Berekei Art Studio, 17 Andrassy Utca. The work is described as being lyrically expressionist, borrowing from the themes of alchemy and Jung – the alchemy theme is certainly something that has interested me for the pőurposes of my own work. Here is a photo of Peter with the main organiser and the gallery owner behind him. The venue was beautifully lit and exceedingly fine wine was served fot the occasion. The work was rather mixed: the later works consisted of thick landscape daubs, whilst his earlier pieces, which I preferred, showed great intricacy in design. Peter talked about the work expressing the sense of alienation of growing up as an alien in London. Being a stranger in a strange land really can be fraying on delicate souls but there are plenty of ways in which it is easy enoughto end up feeling alienated to my mind.

Recently, for example, I encountered a small venue in the city that catered for Outsider Artists at the so-called Tárt kapu galéria – the art brut exhibition in this case, belonging to a group of individuals suffering from autism. This of course means that the artists cannot very well speak for themselves, with all the potential for such individuals being marginalised and therefore possibly patronised as a given – all the same, it was good to know the venue exists.

There is in any case still the chance that the life drawing group will be able to have a group exhibition at some point in the near future, depending on how well this can firt in with various commitments and timetables.

Finally here are some new pieces I have also put up here, belonging to my newer series of mixed-media works on paper:

Many of these have been completed at Gozsdu Court, as part of the Montmartre show, organised by the Ferdinand Gallery.

I am not sure how far that is running into the winter but for the time being, that does appear, still to be ongoing.

The Montmartre experiment, the Whale and the human

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This year has not been an especially eventful year from the point of view of exhibitions. However, I do have one work on view at a venue in Budapest called the Bálna, or Whale – on the ground floor. This is a place run by a certain Mihály Lapú, who also puts on solo exhibitions for local artists. The interior venue of the gallery space, called Új Nesz, is very shabby chic, with old antique artifacts and furniture set against more modern-looking artworks. The Old Curiosity Shop.

There is also the possibility of a new society forming in the city for a small group of artists who meet together to hone their life drawing skills. The classes take place once weekly and afterwards there is usually a party involving food and wine. In the future there may also be the possibility of a group exhibition. I hope to have featured a few of my works – more on that if this does come into being.

Over the summer I have also been taking part in a new opportunity in Budapest to work alongside other artists in the open air and in front of the public, at the Gozsdu Court in the city centre. This is the Montmartre experiment. The venue is organised by the Ferdinand Gallery – here is their page on Facebook. The idea is that real artists will have the chance to connect with real people, as well as literally adding more colour to the ambience of the vicinity.

Do come and visit if you are in the area. I can update individuals locally on whther or not I will be there via my art page on Facebook.

Updates to Site

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Recently I have added or replaced several pieces as well as adding a whole new page for a set of much smaller pieces a while ago, some of which I had made into cards – these can be seen in ‘Smaller pieces.’

There are some new canvas works in my ‘Larger mixed-media’ page too: This is another experiment in reflective, matt ad opaque surfaces, using gold and copper shades alongside greys, whites and iridescent opal.

I have also uploaded two or three additional life drawings.

I have added several new gold-paint based pieces created on paper on my ‘New paper mixed-media pieces’ section, experimenting still further with different textures, reflective surfaces and shapes.

Finally I have just completed a new colour drawing using caran d’ache pencils at my colour drawing section.

Much of the last few months has consisted of retracing certain steps made in order to move forward again and in looking both forward and back.

Exhibitions coming this Autumn!

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This Autumn may be quite eventful, as I will be exhibiting twice in Solo exhibitions!

The first will be at the ékezet galéria, Hajos Utca 41 from mid-September, the other from late November to early December at the MÜSZI, Blaha Luiza Square. More information will be posted as it comes as there is still a lot to organise and plan.
Kettő kiállítási lehetőségem lesz amint vége lesz a nyárnak 2014-ben. Az egyik lesz szeptember középétől az Ékezet Galériában, Hajos Utca 41, a másik viszont a Müsziben November végétől December elejéig. Van még sok csinálnivaló, sok amit kell szervezni, de tudni fogok értesíteni ezeken a lapokon.

Sneak Previews of Most Recent Works

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Well I think……

That there is a lot to be said sometimes for that old saw, that creating is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Recently at least, it has seemed to be more about working without feeling hugely inspired at all and allowing the flow to come slowly, without forcing it.

I have been attending life drawing classes and that has sometimes seemed like a drudge at the end of a long, long day.

I have also been working on a new series of paper-based works that did not seem to be coalescing into any new body to be excited about at all. I have been trying to resolve two older pieces in canvas as well as creating new textural pieces on canvas using the techniques I have been working with on my paper-based works, without much sense of these coalescing into any kind of massive new ouevre likewise either.

It was good then, after photographing my works over the weekend, that things have been taking form, and taking form well – at least my newest paper-based works have been. My smaller canvas-based works are beginning to take shape too, but I am looking forward to having more time over the summer to really make a difference to those.

Enjoy these images, if you are following this blog in any way at all – there is more to come!

These three works are created on stiff paper, using differently-textured other kinds of paper, gold and copper acrylic or wax-based paints and metal foil. The intention is that each piece should be deeply layered, each containing memory and imprints of earlier stages of evolution.

New Series

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I have begun work on a new series of works, both of paper-based pieces and of small pieces on canvas. I used gold acrylic, gold wax paint, torn paper of different colours and metal foil to create these.

These are based on the inspiration gleaned from my completion of the 2013 Sketchbook Project. Two earlier books of my mixed-media layered works on paper can be viewed here.

In the 2013 sketchbooks I experimented with adding and then replacing torn pieces of paper to review the original layer of paper, giving a ‘streched’ look.

So now here is a chance to watch some works in progress. Here is the first stage:

I have added torn paper of various colours to the pristine surface.

By the next stage, I have painted over each surface with gold and then begun to peel away the painted-over surfaces, reapplying them so that they are misplaced, so that the background colour is revealed:

Now it will be a question of continuing to add, complexify and refine what has been begun here.

Work in Progress

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This is a piece which is getting much closer to being completely finished.

Being created on Canvas using wax under the paint for added texture , contrasting matt acrylic with iridescent paint, gold and metal foil columns: the city in movement, at night.

The layers of texture are intended to add richness and complexity to each work, the sense that layers of memory underlie each image.

I intend to add more gold and iridescent to certain other areas of the surface and perhaps remove in discrete places the top texture to expose the patterns of wax and paper underneath this.

Watch this space….

Life Drawing

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Life Drawing again!

I found a Life Drawing class at the end of 2011 and after a very long hiatus indeed, got the opportunity to hone my skills in this area once again. This year, the old venue ground to a halt, due to models cancelling at the last minute and so on. I was sorry about this, as one thing I enjoyed about the atmosphere at the venue was that it was a little bit more international: neither exclusively Hungarian nor exclusively expat in favour of any other particular nationality. That made it more easy-going for me – everyone spoke a little Hungarian, a little English, so there was a lot more room to meet each other half way, somehow.

More recently another individual has offered up his home as a venue for life drawing classes. That is Peter Fekete, who does not sound remotely Hungarian. I recently attended his exhibition opening and his blog can be seen here.

His work reminds me a little of that of an old friend and fellow of mine – Dave Patchett.

Peter’s work does not have the satirical edge that Dave’s has, but the canvass paintings filled panoramic detail of so many human souls inhabiting various hells does invite comparison.

Dave and I used to exhibit together with a group of other artists from Hillfieds in Coventry

Drawing is followed by plentiful offerings of pizza and wine and once again, the atmosphere seems pretty easy-going and congenial. This is one of my latest drawings:

I am still working on completing older pieces and repairing others before moving on. My recent experiences with artist’s co-operatives in Budapest have at times been disheartening to say the least. Insiders have occasionally proven to be aggressively territorial of their position as big fish in small ponds. Others appear to start with heady-sounding intentions of changing the closed-shop snobbery of this marvellous city into a vibrantly open hive of creativity and bringing Art back into the centre of people’s lives, reclaiming the artist’s role as virtually Shamanic, and so on, only for this quickly to become what sounds a whole lot more like ‘try to do more white ones, your red ones aren’t getting enough votes and that blue doesn’t go down either. Not that your red ones aren’t any good, but……’

It was suggested to me I had fallen victim to the tyranny of the Market.

Taking the ‘treat your great Soul work on high as something to be be Marketed’ does appear to offer hope, a solution to the old Starving Artist who might otherwise find the closed shops of the Right Schools and Who you Know a formidable barrier.

The Marketing thing can also seem incredibly reductionist. I suspect that there are individuals somewhere in the world who would be happy to be the ones to part me from my larger peices, just as I have occasionally found individuals willing to buy my A4-size collage work on paper. I just wish I knew how to reach these.

Clearing the Decks and work on this site

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So now I have uploaded images of all the works I woanted to include from each category. As and when I have time, I will now be slowly adding more information about each work.

In the mean time, I can be contacted me wherever there maybe a query about any of the works on show here.

I have recently been showing work at the newly-opened cellar gallery KAZI30, at Kazinszky Utca 30 Budapest, organised by the Ferdinand Gallery. There will be an opening of the new mixed show for the next month there at 6 00pm this Sunday. I will only be exhibiting the one piece this time round, the one shown here. It can also be viewed on my ‘Larger Mixed-media Pieces’ page. It was completed in 2008, on board, and is 50×50 cm, titled ‘Autumnal shades on snow surfaces.’

Much of what the Ferdinand Gallery was music to my ears – reaching the people directly and getting away from the exclusivity and sheer snobbery of traditional galleries. Artists working together in a sense of community.

This has been my first experience of participating in a co-operative run gallery and now it does seem to be more a question of it being about nothing but the rent and how much each artist can afford to lose each month, alongside popularity votes and bruised egos. It is still early days there though.

Beyond this, there is nothing like having a new site to stimulate a certain amont of self-criticism. Recently I have made a cull of several pieces that seemed to me to still need work, or repairing, or simply, just getting rid of, in order to make way for new ideas.