31st Aug 2002
Peter Solymosi Exhibit, Sept. 9-29 @ Andrassy Ut 98, Budapest
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing a handful of truly brilliant artists so far in my life. One of them is Peter Solymosi. I got to know Peter the first couple of year I lived in NY through our Hungarian network. He lived in a classic huge artist’s loft over in Greenpoint, Brooklyn until a few months ago, when he had a big sale of some paintings and moved, first to Budapest, where he is presently and then to India, where he plans to spend a year or so before returning to NYC.
The Abandoned Pier, Oil on canvas, 2000, 54 x 48″
In addition to being a really inspired painter (I’ll spare you my amateurish intellectualizing about his work; let me simply say I love his stuff), he also plays the part beautifully. Dishevelled, moody, crazed glint in his eye and extremely funny and puckish. One of my favorite annecdotes about him is that he took the image of one of his more provocative paintings, The Beauty and the Beast, and he put it on a postcard that looked very officially like it was printed by the Museum of Modern Art. He then stocked them in the museum’s gift store and checked back periodically with pleasure to see they were selling nicely. Even though he didn’t see any of the royalties, he got the satisfaction of exhibiting, as it were, at the MOMA.
Now, those of you in Budapest can enjoy his next thwarting of the traditional art distribution system. Deciding that he was not impressed with the way the Budapest gallery scene was run, he has arranged for an exhibition on fence on Andrasy Ut for three weeks in September. A friend said he’s welcome to use the fence, so from September 9-29 you can see his work displayed at Andrass Ut 98. On September 11 at 6pm, the exhibition will include a dance performance titled “Panic” by his friend Bernadett Barna.
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