Hello Andras, I have always liked your painstakingly elaborate work. Tell me please, how long do you need to complete a work?
Hello Ioana. Usually it takes a month, a month and a half. I use a technique developed by me, it’s drawing in negative, by scratching on a plastic board. The really creative part is when I work on sketches, composing the image on my computer.
How do you build them, what themes do you use?
Pondering over it I think the game of contrasts is the theme present in each of my works. Good and evil, white and black, light and shadow, elements representing contradictory values, these are all present. I see them as an endless dance in a dance ring which is the plastic plate I am drawing upon. A kind of yin and yang, a chessboard on which the pawns are pursuing harmony and balance.
What are the values guiding your artistic practice?
The creative process is for me a communication corridor connecting me not only to the outside world but also to myself. As a message and way of communication I would say I like to shock “carefully” and with due respect 🙂
What are you working on currently? This work is part of a series or has no connection with the previous ones?
I’m working on the third piece of a series which will include six works. It’s a story about the transformation of the environment by humans and also human transformation triggered by this need to transform.
Is there an element that recurrently appears in your works?
There is often a sphere, a kind of aura around the characters that emphasizes their face and enwraps the usually very crowded image in an atmosphere of silence.
How much does your art depend on the location and space you work in?
I adapt quickly to situations and spaces, although I know how it is to work in a spacious workshop. And I admit it’s much better 🙂
Name 3 artists that you like, who motivate you and put you to work.
During high school, I was impressed by the world of Caravaggio, but also by Dutch painters, especially Pieter Brueghel or Jan van Eyck. Among the contemporaries I am fascinated by the veterinary photographer Hajdu Tamás, from Baia Mare, who does not want to be called an artist, but plays with images with an enviable ease.
How do you put yourself in the state of doing in non-inspirational moments?
There are difficult times, moments when I would like to be someone’s employee to have someone to be angry with, but for the time being I can only annoy myself:). Anyway, these are moments bursting with adrenaline.
Tell me a difficult moment in your development as an artist.
I had very difficult times when I was very close to giving up, but I believed in what I was doing and I managed to get over the obstacles.
How do your works reach "the world"?
I am rarely invited to exhibit my work in given places, I organize my own exhibitions, most often in my own workshop.
What do you think about the local artistic community, how do you relate to it?
A lot of things happen in Cluj and this is good, even if few of these happenings really impress me. I’m going to openings, and sometimes I’m happy on my way home.
Is there a question you wanted to answer but you did not get it? :)
Have you ever regretted choosing this job?
And the answer?
What a question … I had no other choice 🙂
