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Gábor Koós
1986, Losonc (Slovakia)
“At an early stage in his career, Gábor Koós shifted his focus from traditional graphic reproduction processes to their application in fine art, and his work continues to explore the conceptual and intuitive potential of printmaking's physical immediacy. Koós is drawn to the unique and unrepeatable, both in his technique and in his chosen subjects: he explores the possibility of capturing fleeting moments, feelings, and experiences, the relationship between the concreteness of the present moment and the subjective nature of memory. He primarily works with two letterpress printing techniques: direct printing (frottage) and woodcut. He captures objects that hold personal significance as his own 'memory prostheses', or he translates intangible elements such as complex emotional states and spatial experiences evoked by his physical environment into tangible forms. In his works, he does not merely aim to depict the object of memory or to capture the fleeting nature of the moment, instead, he strives to encapsulate the experience itself within the art objects.” – excerpt from an article by Eszter Márkus.
Gábor Koós studied at the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. In 2014, his work won not only the Hungarian Graphic of the Year Award, but also the Miskolc Graphic Triennial Award, and in the years following his graduation, the Gyula Derkovits Scholarship. In 2019, Koós was rewarded the European Prize at the Krakow International Graphic Design Biennale for his work titled You're both brown, they won't notice the difference from the USA Diary series. The artist has been active in the region and beyond, participating in major residency programs and exhibiting in renowned institutions such as Banská St A Nica Contemporary, Selmecbánya (SK); Meetfactory, Prague (CZ); PROGR Art Center, Bern (CH); Kunststiftung, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart (D); Budapest Gallery; Bruseum, Graz (AT); Museum Moderner Kunst Karnten, Klagenfurt (AT); Olomouc Museum of Art, Olomouc (CZ). His work is in significant private and public collections, and his Budapest Diary series is part of the collection of the Ludwig Museum Budapest.
