Ferenczy, Zsolt
Born in Berettyóújfalu in 1970

Zsolt Ferenczy is making paintings about nature and at the same time revels something about the nature of painting. The landscape proposes a question about the identity of the viewer and raises a question about his or her cultural roots. It is illustrated by an extraordinary project by Alex Melamid and Vitaly Komar under the title ’People’s Choice’. In this work thousands of people in various coutries were invited to fill in a questionnaire in order to find out what were the wold’s most desired paintings. The resoults were published on the internet. Of the 15 countries 11 produce as their most wanted painting a landscape. The proportion of water, mountainside to trees were remarkably consistent. People at distant corners of the world seem to be dreaming about similar landscapes. The desired paintings were produced by Komar and Melamid and they are reminiscent to the eighteenth century picturesque landscapes of the Romantic period. The sublime images were designed to convey elevated spiritual messages in an age in which religious experiences and faith seemed to vain. These images were meant to be catalysts of transcendental experiences. Today it is difficoult to be innocent about nature in our cynical times. In the paintings of Ferenczy the rhetoric of the Romantic’s legacy is still present but it is forced between quotation marks. The images are loaded with information meanwhile the landcsapes are artificial. As soon as the artist finds an unspoilt landscape he ’pollutes’ the idill with barriers or with seemingly functionless buildings. He seems to be anti-idealist or at least a positivist utopean sceptic. He convincingly presents familiar and unfamiliriar elements in his works. His landscapes, figures and objects seem to be landing upon us from a parallel universe which is famaliar and alien at the same time. The artist includes references (such us barriers) to current issues in his imagery without being didactic, he just simply acknowledges the bare facts of our circumstances. The works often reflect the history of civilisation’s ambiguous relationship with the land. Ferenczy is knowledgeable in art history but not a follower of any tradition. His familiar landscapes and creations often appear in his videos and installations. The artist is consequently builds and populates his micro-universe this psychedelic landscape.