Artist Statement on the Narratives
Growing up in Budapest, Hungary, I was raised hearing my country’s folk tales. The symbols, motives, and patterns of these narratives have stuck with me. Emanating from a deep source, they now appear in my work and push themselves into my portraiture. Initially, I didn’t realize that folk tales were the source of my imagery. But as I developed more and more ideas, I began to see the connection and the parallels; just like these traditional stories, my portraiture speaks to our shared human condition and serves as a mirror for our own existence (examples of this are “The wall”, “Fishing in the forest”, and “King”). Folk tales, like all legends and myths, talk in symbols that are often hidden. Each character and image has a meaning. But underneath that meaning is another one. I develop my images in a similar way. Working with digital tools gives me the freedom to develop the narrative themes that describe the human condition and address everlasting topics and issues like separation, secrecy and nostalgia. The king in “King” sits on his horse backward because he has lost touch with reality. He enjoys his power so much that he cannot look forward. Blind to the future, with his gaze on the past, he feels comfortable in his erroneous ways. I love to create a story in a single frame with one or two characters, build up the set and choose objects with different environmental sources to add meaning to the theme (“The wall” and “Plein-air”). Humor and a pinch of kitsch serve as vehicles for critique. Folk tales often use specific traditional motifs. In a similar way, I like to create graphical patterns and forms that I then weave into my portraits. The aim, again, is to describe human traits or characteristics (“The Royal”, “David”). While working on my digitally merged images, I inhabit many roles; I am a set designer, costume designer, light technician, storyteller and, of course, the director. Using a digital camera, I capture moments and elements from nature for my background. I play with styles for backgrounds, choose costumes for models and arrange objects. I photograph the models and other objects in the studio in front of my green backdrop material separately. Through adjusting the light, I aim for the best harmony for my captured background set. Sometimes I use (digital) glitch technique to extend or enhance the content and build up the background like a stage. My last step is to tie all the pieces together for the final composition. In order to achieve a seamless match, I work in photoshop layers. I always enjoy seeing how an audience reacts to my portraiture. While the aspect of our shared humanity is central to my work, every single person brings to it their own story and experience. Hence every single interpretation is different.