In the art of Ágnes Zászkaliczky, portrait painting goes far beyond technical challenges. Her real goal is to show not only the visible, but also one's personality and soul, reflected on the face and in the eyes of the portrayed person.
FiguratiF Gallery, Alžbetina 42, Košice, Slovakia
From 11 January to 2 February 2022
After a long period of uncertainty caused by the unfavourable development of the epidemic, the exhibition of Ágnes Zászkaliczky, painter, opened in Košice on 11 January 2022.
The exhibition features portraits, including a series started in 2014, presenting some famous musicians - for example: Annie Fischer, Einojuhani Rautavaara, István Várdai, Tibor Bogányi, Uli Soyka, Al di Meola and Leonard Bernstein -, painted in the style of photorealism. The latter work has been exhibited in Palm Beach, Florida (in the Paul Fisher Gallery), in Boston and in New York; most recently, in the Gallery Forrás [Spring] in Budapest.
This Vienna-based Hungarian artist, originally a musician and organist, became interested in painting after graduating from the Bartók Conservatory and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and studying arts in Russia and Finland. Not surprisingly, her choice of topics is not far from the world of music. Her paintings have been exhibited all over the world, from Cannes to Monaco, from the United States to Finland.
"Portraiture is the ultimate test of the artist's technical skills. After years of studies, I finally dare to undertake portraits of anyone. I learned classical portrait painting from Russian masters. Later, George Gheorghe, a painting conservator at the National Museum in Bucharest, Romania, became my master and taught me how to paint in the style of Caravaggio. So, in my portraits, I use the techniques of Caravaggio and the old masters," she reveals.
However, for Ágnes Zászkaliczky, portrait painting goes far beyond technical challenges. Her real goal is to show not only the visible, but also one's personality and soul, reflected on the face and in the eyes of the portrayed person.
The exhibition is open to the public in the FiguratiF Gallery in Košice, Slovakia, until 2 February 2022, every weekday from 10 am to 6 pm.
Translated by Zoltán Bartko
