Zsombor Barakonyi

I express my personal experiences of urban life through my own distinctively characteristic approaches as a painter. My work centres on 'the city as a way of life'.

I base my paintings on my own photos, which - rather than focusing on the unique - aim to accentuate general characteristics and to capture the cosmopolitan quality and unique timelessness of urban living.

I have developed my own painting technique, which I refer to as 'box painting'. This entails using a three-dimensional, object-like wooden box as an image medium, on which - instead of utilising traditional painting techniques - I apply motifs with such tools as blades, stencilled-masked surfaces, sprays and rubber rollers. The image surface emerges from a superimposition of paint layers, which requires conscious and planned artistic work. The sense of constructedness that is conveyed by the paintings adds an alienating effect to the spontaneity of the snapshots on which they are based.