Scribbles and Sketchbooks

As well as the framed paintings exhibited at my solo show, I have 5 glass display cabinets showcasing sketches, works in progress, quotes that inspired me, and paraphernalia related to my work practice.

 

I felt it was important to show that the immaculately detailed work on the walls all start off as messy scribbles in my sketchbooks, and quick studies jotted on scraps of paper.

And most importantly my palette - a mere 7 blobs of colour are the starting point for me. Devotion, patience and a great deal of time complete the recipe! There it is, up in the corner. So simple, no?

My first Solo Exhibition

Your very first Solo Exhibition marks a very important point in an artist's career. The surrounds of  my first solo exhibition also held additional meaning for me - hosted in the country where my mother was raised, having come here one year ago to try the life of a full-time artist.

 

The vernissage was a huge success. Smiling faces of people I have met here - supporting me on the other side of the world, bouquets of orchids, champagne, chocolate and strawberries. 

 

It was a night filled with smiles, laughter and clinking glasses. The best - and most important - night of my life so far!

More photographs from the opening night of my first Solo Show can be found here:

Elillanó Mesevilág

Also, I've added a select few to my Art-Page on Facebook. Drop me a "like" if you haven't already!

Facebook - Monika Viktoria
 

Opening Tonight

The preparations for my Solo Show “Elillanó Mesevilág” (A Delicate Disillusionment) opening tonight!

I’ve conducted a few radio interviews, and have been pleased to see it represented in print by the local media.

As well as the framed pieces on the wall, I have five vitrines displaying sketches, studies, small framed watercolours, sketchbooks and various paraphernalia related to my work practice. Photographs from the opening tonight later on! 

Thank you for all the online support and encouraging comments everyone!

A Delicate Disillusionment Invite

Artist Statement - A Delicate Disillusionment

Re-visiting the Hungarian folktales told to me as a child by my mother, I was met with the curious notion of awakening from a troubled slumber, the rose-tinted fog of my childhood dissipating into flimsy shreds.

The stories that had lulled me to sleep as a young girl suddenly took on different, more explicit meanings - with heady undertones of sexuality and societal conformism. The characters traditionally portrayed as evil instead seemed helpless and unfortunate, the princesses hid their spoilt cruelty beneath a veil of enchanting physical beauty, and the heroic youth’s often fought for a cause I found not quite as valiant as when I was 5.

I created a series of illustrations portraying the characters populating the folktales and folksongs of Hungarian culture - shedding a fresh, mature light on the way I viewed these stories. Themes of mass hysteria, misunderstood outcasts, spoilt aristocracy, and thinly veiled eroticism occupy my revised illustrations.

My first Solo Exhibition, titled A Delicate Disillusionment showcases over 40 watercolours on display at the Eszterházy Palace (Győr State Fine Art Museum) from the 4^th of May – June 30^th 2012.

Elillanó Mesevilág

A magyar népmesék felnőttkori újrafelfedezése során – melyeket anno oly’ szívesen hallgattam édesanyámtól – találkoztam azzal a furcsa felismeréssel, hogy gyermekkorom „rózsaszín köddel” átitatott elképzelései véglegesen darabjaira hullottak.

A kislányként még álomba ringató mesék hirtelen teljesen más megvilágításba kerültek, olyan - az eddigiektől jelentősen eltérő – motívumok körvonalazódtak bennem a történetek kapcsán, mint elfojtott szexualitás, vagy éppen társadalmi konformizmus.

Példának okáért a hagyományosan gonoszként ábrázolt karakterek, ördögi mivoltuk helyett inkább tűntek tehetetlen és szerencsétlen szereplőknek, míg a hercegnők és királykisasszonyok mindeközben elbűvölő testi szépségük mögé rejtették elkényeztetettségükből eredendően fakadó kegyetlenségüket. A hős vitézek erkölcsi mozgatórugói is sokkal inkább megkérdőjelezhetővé váltak, mint 5 éves koromban.

A magyar népdalok és népmesék mindenki számára ismerős hősei és antihősei adták az ihletet illusztrációimhoz, melyek egy friss, mégis érettebb megvilágításban tükrözik személyes nézőpontomat a témával kapcsolatban.  Tömeghisztéria, félreismert számkivetettek, elkényeztetett arisztokrácia és halványan felsejlő erotika jellemzik többek között újraértelmezett alkotásaimat.