Born in Hungary in 1966. In 1985 he left Hungary and immigrated to Sweden as a political dissident. As a linguistic student in Sweden, Solymosi began to paint seriously. His most interesting works from this period are his "excavation paintings". These paintings consist of objects seemingly uncovered, layer by layer as if the canvas is an archaeological site. In 1992, after the sweeping political changes in Hungary, he returned to attend the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. He began to focus on landscapes, portraits and still lives. These paintings are marked by his intense attachment to line and light. Like his earlier works, they are layered with subtle allegory, but this time told by the curve of a horizon or the shadow of a glass filled with water.
In 1997 he moves to New York and produces series of prints and paintings
His first New York paintings and graphic print series are inspired by
the lifeforms and unconscious shapes in the city. These series are made
on themes as "cockroach" or "pilings". Painting and printmaking go hand
in hand, the different techniques develop each other. His ”bubble”
series are a succesful attempt in depicting the collective mind
radiating from the city.
"Your printmaking is a significant reminder of your technical
inventiveness in eloquent service to your strange and evocative images.
The forms you conjure up out of the richly layered textures stir up
complex responses: flashes of figuration followed by visceral reactions
to what seem to be pure light and heat. The beauty of your surfaces
serve up a feast for the eyes, but tantalizingly invite the viewer to
touch, and while the textures assert their existence on the surface of
the paper, the space you suggest is difficult to measure. The darks are
a foil to the light emanating from within".Roberta Waddell, Curator of
Prints at The New York Public Library.
(May 2000). Lately I've been applying a certain intuition for redefining geometry. I enjoy meditating by the riverfront and the latest works reflect on the rhythm and atmosphere seen there. F.e.: "The river as a symbol represents the flow of mind, its appearances and shapes change every second, therefore there is no such thing as East River in New York City but a drifting with the flow of images anchored in moods of realization. This city is a Beast, i.e. the collective mind of its inhabitants appears as a brute, instinctive creature."
In 2002 he moved to India and begun painting the Himalayas. During the first year his style was dominated by an abstract approach which he later gave up and shifted to a more figurative, narrative style. It was necessary because it's a different environment both as its anatomy and its spiritual attachment. Zen: First you look at the mountain and see it as expected, next, you look at the mountain and it does not appear as a mountain, at last, you see the mountain. The following years Solymosi toured the Indian and Nepali Himalayas visiting known and less known locations and peaks. He truthfully makes the effort and carries equipment to the very location, often over 14000 feet, and paint on the spot.His landscape paintings beginning with the Everest Trail works (2011) are masterpieces of the genre plain-air. Beside the realistic approach there is a lineage of a current abstract in his works which attempt to depict form ...beyond form.
Related education
1992-1997 Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest Hungary
Fine Arts Degree, Painting Faculty (MFA equivalent)
Exhibitions:
| 2005 12th April - 3rd May | New Delhi, India | |
| 2003 September | New Delhi, India | |
| 2003 January | Gallery Hajos, Budapest | |
| 2002 September | 98 Andrassy, Budapest, Hungary | |
| 2002 August | Haus Schwarzenberg, Berlin, Germany | |
| 2001 Sept. 23-24 | Greenpoint Riverfront Artist, 70 Commercial Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn | |
| 2001 September | group | Greenpiont Riverfront Artists 3, New York |
| 2001 January | Madame X, West Houston St, NY | |
| 2000 September | group | Greenpoint Riverfront Artists 2, New York |
| 2000 April | group | Terrain, San Francisco |
| 2000 March | Terrain, San Francisco | |
| 2000 January | Thai Cafe Gallery, Greenpoint, New York | |
| 1999 October | group | Greenpoint Riverfront Artists 1, New York |
| 1999 March | Studio Toledo, Budapest, Hungary | |
| 1999 February | group | Terrain, San Fransisco |
| 1998 September | Movements Gallery, Austin, Texas | |
| 1998 May | Cafe dell' Artista, New York | |
| 1998 March | Swedish Seamen Church, New York | |
| 1998 February | Kimball Hall, New York University | |
| 1997 September | Kimball Hall, New York University |
Permanent:
1998 The New York Public Library
1997 Dunaujvaros City Hall
1997 Swedish Embassy Budapest