The Westport Arts Center and Quinnipiac University's Central European Institute have announced a new artist residency program that spans Connecticut – and the globe.
Held in the Westport Arts Center’s Project Space, the EAST meets WESTport residency exhibition can be seen May 8 – June 27 in conjunction with the Westport Arts Center’s “SOLOS 2015” exhibition, featuring artistic highlights of the region. The opening reception will be held on Friday, May 8 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Selected for this year’s program is Márton Nemes, a Hungarian artist from Budapest, Hungary. Nemes, and his works in the exhibition, were selected by jurors Helen Klisser During, the Westport Arts Center’s Artistic Director, and Julia Mechtler from David Zwirner Gallery in New York City. All of the art in the exhibition is available for sale. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see Nemes' works, as this is his first visit to the United States.
“It’s wonderful for the Westport Arts Center to sponsor an artist so hungry to see and discover America for the first time, and to watch him manifest this into vibrant paintings with such vigor and skill,” stated Klisser During. On his style, Nemes explained, “I played in abandoned Russian barrack buildings in my childhood. I loved to discover these functionless spaces. I was fascinated by the crumbling plasters… At the beginning I painted everything, and then I started reducing the spaces to sheer wall surfaces until I got to my present topic - building different shaped coats of paint upon each other, with abrasions and breaks, confronted by rips.”
His art features vibrant, geometric abstracts. “I adore colors… As there aren’t two alike people, there aren’t two alike colors,” said Nemes. Nemes studied industrial design at the Technical University of Budapest and painting at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. He has exhibited at many solo shows and group shows in Hungary. “The EAST Meets WESTport residency will open a brand new chapter in my life... As a Central-Eastern European artist, I believe I will gain tremendously from this residency program in an environment that is so different from mine both culturally and economically,” Nemes said. “The differences in the way people look at art interests me highly.”
Christopher Ball, Director of Quinnipiac University’s Central European Institute, stated, “Our 2015 Hungarian artist in residence is a new initiative within the Art as Ambassador project of the Central European Institute (CEI) at Quinnipiac University. Since our broader mission is connecting the people of Hungary with Americans, the artist in residency is an ideal combination of sharing contemporary art and connecting individuals; thereby deepening the understanding between the peoples of the two nations. We are honored to support artists such as Márton Nemes.”
During his stay in the United States, Nemes will be living and working in a special artist studio space in Bridgeport, CT. The space was provided by Philip Kuchma, President of Kuchma Corporation, as an ongoing effort to infuse the Bridgeport community with the arts and creativity.
To learn more about the EAST Meets WESTport program, call the Westport Arts Center at 203/222-7070 or visit http://www.westportartscenter.org