Péter Ujházi: Ujházi 75

Péter Ujházi (born in 1940, Székesfehérvár/H), an important member of the Várfok Gallery’s artist circle is 75 years old this year, which the Gallery wants to celebrate with a grand, jubilee exhibition. Besides his most recent works, a selection of his former works was made: one of his emblematic historical paintings, the Flight of Jellasics (1973) will be presented on the exhibition from the collection of the King St. Stephen Museum (Székesfehérvár/H).

Ujházi’s oeuvre is unbroken for over 40 years: he presents his unique motifs, figures and locations in his individual way since the beginning of his artistic career, without following the trends. Despite his diverse artistic activities – which include e.g. paintings, collages, graphics, watercolors, assemblages and artist books, as well as wood-, ceramic-,  or iron sculptures – one can observe that his specific artistic world formed in the 70s has not changed substantially over the years.

The basically narrative character of his works are strengthened by the different texts and inscriptions appearing on the works. The particular, multi-perspective view of his paintings, and their special spatiality led straightly the artist to create boxes and sculptures. In the stage-like world of his boxes and clay sculptures the two dimensional figures of the paintings come to life, but the basic characteristics of his oeuvre, such as the lightness and playfulness, and on the other hand the grotesque world vision and critical approach are appearing. The series of his foliage paintings, which is an important unit of the artist’s oeuvre since the late 60s, are the witnesses of the joyful experience of painting, and can be characterized by the same the expressive colors and the gestural brushwork as we observe also in his narrative paintings.

The works are evoking the typical locations of the everyday life, such as the artist’s hometown, Székesfehérvár, his studio in Budapest and the small town of Nadap in Fejér country, as well as the metropolises like New York or Lisbon, the venues of his adventurous journeys. Each exhibited artwork present us a separate little world, but the artist’s distinctive style and narrative connects every story, whether historical event or an event from our everyday life. This organic oeuvre is what makes Péter Ujházi an unmistakable person of the Hungarian contemporary art scene.