Tibor Simon-Mazula

Video by Hann Art Agency about Tibor Simon-Mazula for Art Taipei 2023 | J08 HANN ART | Hall 1 of Taipei World Trade Center, Taiwan | October 20-23

“Painting has a lot of faces. I work with the texture like a little kid, it's an engaging free play! The surface on some zones is even, but elsewhere it is undeveloped. Areas respond to each other. They talk among themselves and also communicate with the viewer. (0:58)

Our world is full of antagonisms and in my view, art has the ability to unite and to dissolve them at the same time and this is what I am trying to capture in my works. This is what I try to do in my paintings, where the smooth and the rough surfaces, the beauty and the ugliness can fit together. They all complement each other. Silence and sound, nothing and something. Opposing poles merge and harmonize in art. (1:44)

So, I don't necessarily see dealing with beauty and harmony as the only purpose of Art, even though both phenomena are essential in my practice. I rather see it as that this imperfect planet — that we have to live on with all its beauties and tragedies — is a faulty place, where one of the roles of art is to correct the mistakes of the non-ideal world. And art has the power to help because “this idea about art” can be applied to everyone, not only artists. (2:30)

For me, this is one of the meanings of the Arts. But, as I said, there are so many other things that could be mentioned. Just one more example; I believe, another important aspect is that Art is able to help us understand the richness of the world, the multiplicity of ideas manifesting in an almost incomprehensibly complicated multitude of phenomena. Through Art, I can respond to this plurality. And, so too the viewer can react to it. It's not a scientific approach, it's an artistic conversation, which is a crucial way of seeing things in my opinion. (3:29)

I had been searching, I was a musician, I made short films. However, painting had always been there, and that's where I found my “voice”. There are so many things about painting that make me feel that this is my path. I am fascinated by colors and shapes. Although I often apply grays on many areas of my paintings, I consider gray not neutral as there is a lot of color in it. I am captivated by colors and I am particularly attracted to blue. (4:16)

Among the reasons why I became a painter I may also mention my desire to look for harmony, or to depict chaos. On the one hand this is why painting makes sense to me, but I also do it for other reasons. One of them is the way I paint. There's a direct contact between the surface, the material and me. The canvas and the brush are like instruments. Sometimes I paint with my finger, or with my hand. Sometimes I turn the canvas around or put it on the ground, other times I just shake it. So, painting has this elemental, primitive characteristic that I adore. (5:01)

Ultimately, we can say, it's a spontaneous improvisational performance that simply freezes, solidifies, and the viewer sees only its result. It has its heights and peaks. At times, it's focused intense work, which can be upsetting. Another time it's just calming. And the beauty of this duality is that you can't predict which phase will come next and when.”

— Tibor Simon-Mazula, 09. 15. 2023

“The central element of this image is absence There are many things that can be said about this image, it can have many meanings, but one of the key aspects is scarcity. It's quite clear that there is no character here, but at the same time the objects that can be associated with the figure, with a person, are present, so in fact the character is present, even though she or he is not depicted, not articulated in the painting. That's the first layer of sense, another important one is related to colours.

I'm attracted to the colour of blue. In most of my paintings, the blue is more prominent, the blue dominates the picture. Not on this one. These really powerful yellows, oranges and reds are coming forward, almost into the foreground. I'd also say that they are aggressively pushing forward compared to me; and that's one of the reasons why I worked a lot, struggled with this image, and I had to get to a point where ... finally, the image started to paint itself. And that point was, when I realized that I had to define orange, yellow and red as the opposite of blue. I got that they are complementary to each other. And then, the picture was solved for me, I was able to move on.

This strong tension between ”there is” and ”there is not”, between the cold and the warm moves the image. And as you can see, the wind blowing the curtain, there's a movement, a subtle movement and this motion connects the inner space with the outer space. The outer space is cold and the inner space is warm. I could say that the movement— the breeze permeates the area. It goes through the room from which the figure is missing. But the person is not missing because props and objects of a human being are there."

—Tibor Simon-Mazula, 2023

“This painting has a pair among my paintings, but this one is a more dynamic and active image. It's about memory, movement and the significance of a moment. (00:28)

The title of my current body of work is about rebirth and awakening; both concepts are related to change. I've found that the important things in life, the big turns, the meaningful events, happen in the blink of an eye, within a very short period of time and are not the result of something planned. (01:01)

And for me, that's how this painting is connected to rebirth, to change. It captures a moment and a memory. The figure is in motion, the background is blurred, the corresponding warm and cold colors harmonize and float the figure that is moving. She doesn't walk, she doesn't sit, she doesn't stand up, she just turns around. (01:31)

I may have succeeded in depicting this in the movement of her feet, the movement of her hands, the movement of her head. These show that the character is in an intermediate state. the space is unclear and the figure is somewhat blurred, but certain parts of it are sharp. (01:56)

I used charcoal here as well, and oil paint. The use of materials in this picture is perhaps the most subtle and sophisticated. I was aiming for nice transitions. I sometimes break up these transitions with strong brushstrokes, ivory black, mars black, or charcoal. (02:22)

These brushstrokes come to me almost instinctively. At the same time, this painting, like the others, has been designed, planned and thought-out in advance. And yet, the process of creation, the expressive experience of painting, always drove my work forward. (3:43)”

—Tibor Simon-Mazula, November 2023

“This is a kind-of offbeat picture. It's part of the series, it fits, but it's also a bit out of place. (0:11)

This is a still life mainly about colour. It has a short background story. It was created after we got back from Paris, and I was impressed by the artworks I saw there. I believe that the paintings of Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard subconsciously influenced and inspired this work. But this was not at all a conscious decision to me. The way the colours burst forth, the way the shapes are broken down, and simplified, I think in some way that is the effect of Paris. (0:46)

My intention was to make a simple still life which is not quite conventional because of the size and the setting. You can't say it's a still life that fits in a line, yet, the main subject is the table. However, you don't see many things on it. There are only a few apples and a glass because I didn't want to overload the table with objects. What is important here is the swirl of colours, the cavalcade of colours that come out of nowhere and still seem real! For me at least, that was a very important idea. (1:33)

This image fits right into the arise, or rebirth sequence as it celebrates light. This could be a spring morning, a spring daybreak moment, when something starts, our day begins. It welcomes the season. That's the mood, that's the feeling I wanted to convey and interestingly enough, there was this kind of juxtaposition of Vuillard and Bonnard's images entered into my painting unconsciously.(2:12)

I love this picture, it puts me in a good mood.”

—Tibor Simon-Mazula, November 2023

“In this picture we see a static, almost rigidly seated figure in the center. The position of the figure is especially important. It's a characteristic of all my pictures, but on this one it is perhaps more traceable than on the others, how precisely the structure of the picture is thought out geometrically. (00:37)

I'm trying to amplify the mood of the figure, the mood of this captured moment with subtle, beautiful transitions and a variety of blues. (00:51)

It's very difficult to talk about what exactly our character, the figure, the protagonist is doing, I can't put it into words, that’s why I make a painting. I want to leave room for the viewer's imagination. Pictures can be explained in some way, but I think it’s better to feel them. That's why I don't want to override the picture with words. I don't want to abrogate what our eyes see with words, and over-explain it. (01:34)

Maybe I can add that, I had an intention to refer back to the past, to the artworks of earlier ages. That's why the red drapery is in the picture, neatly laid down, not active, at rest, not blowing in the wind, not moving. It's like a prop, not a central theme, but it's the colour that makes it stand out and integrates it.(02:13)

I spent a lot of time with the face in this image, it's probably the most elaborated here. This was another huge challenge, because of what I said earlier. That it's the colours, the shapes, the gestures, the brushwork that's important, it's about the visuality of the image, and I don't want to overwhelm it with facial expressions, I don't want to over-explain it or be too literal.”

I spent the last decade focusing on four significant themes about human emotions, actions and notions, namely: engagement, awakening, remembering, and beauty. My artworks are based on intimate experiences—inspired by people to whom I am closely connected with, physical spaces where I occupied, and situations that I was in. I excitedly look to reveal human relationships and motivations beyond what lies visible on the surface. As Jenny E. Balisle (San Francisco-based curator, writer, and professor) described in 2019, “…artworks highlight internal hope and conflict. The physicality of the painting process offers refuge while exposing the scars of experience. Bone ash literally engulfs the compositions of everyday fragments. Ancestors spoke this language and today the translation evolves.

Tibor S-M: Most of my paintings depict a person, a figure. I consider this to be a very important aspect of my art; it's my conscious decision to portray people in their environment. I want to talk to people and in the sense that they can identify with the image in some way through the figure. My wife, Diána is my muse and she is the main character in the majority of my paintings. (00:25)

Edit D: Tibor Simon-Mazula's paintings focus on movement and the captured moment. The focus is not exactly in the center, but certainly in a well designed place. (00:34)

Tibor S-M: At the beginning, when I start painting, I construct the image. There is a geometric basis. I compose it. In a classical or traditional sense, I make a black and white drawing. I lay down the structure and then the colours, then build the texture. Here you can see the architecture of the image, the geometry is well thought out. There's a certain regularity in it, even though it's a lot more less in the gesture and in the brushwork. (01:06)

Edit D: Tibor likes to experiment with materials. He mixes pumice or bone ash into the oil paint to achieve the rough, plaster-like surface characteristic of his paintings. (01:17)

Tibor S-M: This is not a digital work. For me, the material is fundamental in making a painting. The use of paint is thicker in some places so it sticks out, it's rough. In other areas, like here, it's completely fine and thin, and transparent down below. Here, for example, the canvas shows through. (01:42)

(Music)

The layering is present in both technique and sense. A painting does not communicate directly. All these little things - or not so little details (laughs) like the colours - imply that. The fantastic thing about a painting is that we can absorb it all at once and as time passes, the painting doesn't change but reveals itself continuously. So painting is connected to time. The layers gradually reveal themselves. (02:16)

(Music)

For almost a year now, I've been preparing for my solo exhibition in Taiwan, which has a title and an idea around which all the paintings are organised. The concept is rising, awakening or revival. I refer to this with some symbols, but I especially mean it with the colours. Lately, people have been noticing that I have become more colourful compared to myself. (02:45)

Edit D: Is there a final brushstroke for the painter? Is it possible to finish a painting or just to stop? (02:51)

Tibor S-M: It is an accepted opinion among painters that there is a point when you have to know when to stop. It is said that you have to learn when to stop. But I don't entirely agree with that. I think that when you keep on doing it, of course you might mess it up, but in the course of time it becomes a new and I think more mature - I didn't use the word better because it's difficult to interpret that for a work of art - painting. So I don't think you can really end it by saying 'now it's over'.

Álomszerű világban merülhetünk el Simon-Mazula Tibor képeit nézve. A Nyolcésfél Inspirációs Övezet és Alkotótérben egy picike műteremben mesélt nekünk alkotásairól a képzőművész, és megmutatta még száradó képeit, melyeket egy ősszel nyíló, tajvani kiállítására készített.

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We can immerse ourselves in a dreamlike world when looking at the paintings of Tibor Simon-Mazula. In a small studio at the 8½ Inspiration Zone and Creative Space, the artist told us about his work and showed us his still-drying paintings for an exhibition he is preparing for an upcoming exhibition in Taiwan in the autumn.

來自匈牙利的迪波爾，藉由他的繪畫探討當代社會的人際關係。畫面中快速而隨性的筆刷、面貌模糊的人物，猶如繁忙都會中的人們，在空間中給予人一種強烈的時尚感。歡迎觀看這一期的收藏一幅畫，讓Metra帶您走入這個迷人的藝術世界。

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Tibor from Hungary explores the human relationship in contemporary society through his paintings. The quick and spontaneous brushstrokes and blurred figures in the paintings, like people in a busy city, give a strong sense of vogue in the space. Welcome to this edition of Collect a Painting, where Metra takes you on a journey into this fascinating world of art.Description text goes here