Work of Art in Focus
2017 "free-style nylon" 250 cm X 300 cm
Munkácsy Mihály Award winning fine artist András M. Novák characterises the exhibition organised in commemoration of his 75th birthday as follows: "A catch of the current situation with respect to my art, the present epoch and my own age. How successful is it? You can decide for yourselves!"
András M. Novák is one of the outstanding figures of contemporary Hungarian arts. He studied at the Hungarian College of Fine Arts between 1964 and 1968. His teachers included the most influential figures of 20th century Hungarian fine arts, namely Jenő Barcsay, János Kmetty and Lajos Szentiványi. Already at the early years of his career, András M. Novák received numerous prizes acknowledging his talent (including the Derkovits Gyula Fine Arts Grant, awarded for the years between 1970 and 1973). His first solo exhibition opened in 1971.
The complexity of his art reveals itself in the varied nature of his artworks: András M. Novák's art was influenced by pop art, arte povera and combine painting. Important elements of his artworks include the use of gestures, collage design and applied surfaces (using e.g. tar paper and fish skin).
"András M. Novák's art cannot be defined by referencing only one single art trend, tendency or aspiration. His paintings reflect image creation, of a synthesizing nature with a meditative touch and sometimes of a provocative character, that is far from everything that can be called the art of painting in a classical sense. These artistic large-scale posters, so-called human wallpapers, i.e. these image objects, speak in mercilessly iconic voices and tell lyrical ballads, thereby lifting the past into the present and thus transposing the present into the past. There is nothing to hide, the moment has come: we must look ourselves into the eye," art historian Tibor Wehner writes about artworks by András M. Novák. Using fine arts as a form of expression, András M. Novák strives to encourage the beholder to look back at the past.
Featuring as a "free-style nylon" work of art, this piece entitled "Fish, Water and Tar" was created two years ago in commemoration of the Hungarian Day of Painting. In a film about his art, András M. Novák describes the birth of this artwork as follows: "This wonderful blue water... It was here, and it was lovely blue, and with this piece of nylon they captivated me through their glitter and they prompted me to create. And I produced this composition and a more dramatic and slightly tarred surface below it. I used fish skin and dead fish. And this way this large-scale creation was born."
In the scope of the programme series entitled the Hungarian Day of Painting 2019, András M. Novák's exhibition entitled "A Catch in Autumn" can be visited free of charge on 17th November. At 5.00 p.m. on the same day, the fine artist invites visitors to the showcasing to join him for a guided tour of the exhibition.
We kindly ask you to register for the guided tour by sending an e-mail to the following address: galeria@vigado.hu. Thank you for your co-operation.
EXHIBITION
Exhibition by fine artist András M. Novák. The exhibition is on view from 2. October to 10. November , 2019.
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