Art history – particularly the study of the Middle Ages – recognises the concept of the insular style: closed cultural units that emerge on islands. When life takes hold on a tiny patch of land surrounded by wide, rippling waters, an insular culture inevitably begins to form. And indeed, the LuppArt artist residency set up camp on just such a place in 2015 – the famed Luppa Island.

 

Anyone who has ever visited knows how truly unique the atmosphere is. The moment you step into the rickety motorboat at the Ebihal snack bar, ready to be ferried across the Danube branch, you know you’re on your way to a place unlike any other: a timelessly peaceful, semi-wild micro-universe shaped by both nature and human presence. At its centre lies a path lined with towering plane trees, flanked by elegant little summer houses – from Bauhaus-style gems to modernist blocks. There are jetties, boats, dogs, beavers, and of course, mosquitoes.

 

This place so naturally calls for artists that it’s almost surprising it took Gábor Farmosi to establish a summer residency here. What began as a modest initiative has since grown into the Luppa Island Summer Art Residency (with the support of Gábor Einspach), where leading figures of Hungary’s contemporary art scene and emerging young talents create side by side – often alongside a distinguished international guest artist.

In this insular culture, everyone finds themselves. I’ve never seen an artist bored on Luppa Island. But I have seen Jiri Kovanda install slices of salami, Erik Mátrai build a camera obscura, Hajnalka Tarr piece together glass mosaics, István Felsmann collect plane tree bark, and Zoltán Tombor photograph an upturned kayak. Some artists arrived here to overcome their fear of water, while others seemed to live in it. There were enthusiastic newcomers working day and night in the studio, and mid-career artists lifting beer jugs in celebration.

 

Brushes, paints, canvases, easels, sprays, rolls of paper, thinners and fixatives have all been shipped to the island in industrial quantities – only to be reborn under the influence of this insular culture, transformed into works of art. Many of these pieces found their way into the bloodstream of the contemporary art world through charity exhibitions and auctions. Others remained as gifts in the collection created by the residency’s founders.

This is how the LuppArt Collection was born – a vibrant reflection of the insular culture of the Luppa Island artist residency.

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//Gábor Rieder//