Gábor Király
(b. 1979)
Fotó: Mohácsi András
born in Kecskemét, Hungary
Gábor Király trained in drawing, visual communications, and as an art teacher before embarking on a full-time career as an artist. Since then, he has exhibited widely across Hungary, in addition to Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the United States. He lives and works in Budapest and Kecskemét.
Central to Gábor’s practice is an experimental approach to painting that rarely involves conscious planning. Often abandoning then reworking images over long periods, his portrayal of human frailty and fallibility in raw, gestural brushstrokes echoes post-war neo-expressionist motifs. Gábor’s subjects are at once anonymous — he claims they are fictitious interpretations of real people — and seemingly alert to their individuality. Some are almost intimidating full-face, or half-length compositions cropped tightly to the extremities of the frame; others, in three-quarter view, suggest the intimacy or vulnerability of a self-portrait. Despite the idiosyncrasies and awkward poses, there is compassion too — he describes the works as subconscious impressions of social encounters.
In 2007 Gábor lived in Indianapolis in the midwestern US, where he was inspired by the art and culture of the city’s African American community. America’s folk and outsider art traditions, too, can be seen in his compositional style, depiction of animals, and unconventional use of found materials — the latter an important element in his oeuvre. Preferring the unpredictable surface of hessian or raw wooden panels to traditional canvas, Gábor sources materials from the street, local markets, and house clearances. On one occasion, he used the elaborately chiselled headboard of an antique bed; elsewhere, he has employed sheets of wine filtering paper and railway sleepers, and his anthropomorphic wooden structures blur the boundary between painting and sculpture.
By incorporating these irregularly-shaped, organic textures, Gábor amplifies the tactile quality of his paintings, an idea he explores further in his signature process of applying thick impasto to a surface then blasting it off with a high-pressure water gun before adding more layers. The result is evident in his canvases, each of which harbors multiple layers concealed beneath the surface.
EDUCATION
2004 – 2006 University of Pécs, Faculty of Music and Visual Arts, Pécs – teacher of visual arts
1997 – 2001 Eszterházy Károly College, Eger – drawing and visual communication
1993 – 1997 Kandó Kálmán Secondary Art School, Kecskemét – graphic arts
AWARDS
2024 20th Panel Painting Biennale, Szeged – Award of City of Szeged
2022 68th Autumn Exhibition of Vásárhely – Grand Prize: Tornyai-plaque
2020 – 2023 Art Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Art
2018 65th Autumn Exhibition of Vásárhely – Award of the Foundation for Local Governments of Csongrád County
3rd Watercolour Triennale of Eger, Herman Ottó Museum – Prize for Creative Work of the Gallery of Miskolc
2017 64th Autumn Exhibition of Vásárhely – Award of the MANK Non-Profit Ltd.
2016 16th Panel Painting Biennale, Szeged – Grand Prize
63rd Autumn Exhibition of Vásárhely – Award of the Ministry of Human Resources
2013 2nd National Drawing Triennale, Salgótarján – Award of the Association of Hungarian Graphic Artists
Maticska Jenő Prize – Day of Hungarian Painting
2012 14th Panel Painting Biennale, Szeged – Award of City of Szeged
2009 Award of the Society of Hungarian Painters
2007 INTAKE, Point of View, Indianapolis, USA
POP! Goes the West, Art Contest, Intake / Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art/, Indianapolis, USA – 2nd Prize
2006 Strabag Painting Award
2005 Derkovits Scholarship
2004 12th National Drawing Biennale, Salgótarján – Award of the Foundation for Arts and Free Education
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Fragile Sky – Damjanich János Museum, Szolnok
2023 The wind tells – Tornyai János Museum, Hódmezővásárhely
Ordinary microcosms – Artus Studio Gallery, Budapest
2021 Blissful Idleness – David Kovats Gallery, London
2020 Land outside the city – Godot Gallery, Budapest
2019 Fensterblick (Michael Fanta, Gábor Király) – Austrian Cultural Forum, Budapest
Bestiary (exhibition of Gábor Király and Géza Nagy) – Artus Studio Gallery, Budapest
Relatives – Rév-Art Gallery, Révfülöp
2018 Anomalia Humana – Cultural Centre of Óbuda, San Marco Gallery, Budapest
2017 Reserve – Virág Judit Gallery, Budapest
Selected Images – Hirös Agóra, Kecskemét
2015 Kápolna Gallery, Kecskemét, International Ceramics Studio
Exhibition of Gábor Király – Artus Studio Gallery, Budapest
2014 Guests – Virág Judit Gallery, Budapest
2012 Drawings, Paintings – Artus Studio Gallery, Budapest
Exhibition of Gábor Király and Tamás Kis – Artus Studio Gallery, Budapest
Exhibition of Painter Gábor Király – Hegedűs 24, Budapest
2010 Painting Exhibition of Gábor Király – Olof Palme House, Budapest
2009 Weekdays – Stúdió 1900 Gallery, Budapest
2008 Kirongozi – Boulevard & Brezsnyev Gallery, Budapest
Exhibition of Gábor Király – Artus Studio Gallery, Budapest
Dialogue4 (with Magdalena Moskwa) – Polish Institute, Platán Gallery, Budapest
2007 BBQ – OctogonArt Gallery, Budapest
Overseas – Big Car Gallery, Indianapolis, USA
2023, acrylic, canvas, 145 x 110 cm
2024, acrylic, canvas, 109 x 63,5 cm
2018, 50 x 25 cm
2020, acrylic, canvas, 122 x 99 cm
2023, acrylic, wood, 50 x 35 cm
2023, acrylic, canvas, 110 x 50 cm
2024, acrylic, canvas, 110 x 62 cm
2023, acrylic, canvas, 58 x 45 cm
2024, glazed terracotta, 37 x 20 x 32 cm