Until February 5, Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in presents an interesting exposition “The Way of the Tree” by the Hungarian painter Sándor Hollán, The exhibition is a tribute to the work of the artist who uses nature to express the existential complexities through painting and graphic design.

Along with about 100 works by artists, including those of great masters , the museum takes a journey into the work of Sándor Hollán to show the influences and changes that the artist has had in the course of his work. It is a quest to discover his history through this exhibition that shows an interesting approach to Hungarian art.

Sándor Hollán was born in Budapest in 1933. He began to paint self-taught as a teenager. In 1955 he obtained his master degree in painting in a Hungary that began to be shaken in search of changes after Stalin�s death and the weakening of the pro-Soviet regime. In 1956 there is a large student demonstration that ends in repression and tighter restrictions on freedom, a motive that puts his family in the list of unreliable citizens to the authorities. In this situation, about 200 thousand people go into exile, Hollán moved to Paris to study painting at the Paris Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and then he studied graphic arts at l�École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs.

Hollán, like great painters and artists, has used nature to accommodate the complex existential senses, just as Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and others did and through it bared their inner world. It is nature that gives strength to his work. You can see the changes it is experiencing, in a game where color and shading are going deep into the passages of his emotional world.

His interesting exploration of artists from different times forges his own way, turns him into a studious character and a perfectionist who is always in search of an aesthetic expression, which leads to achieving the ideal of perfect work, as nature is , where the colors, textures and shapes achieve a unique harmony.

The ongoing quest for new experiences and stimuli that came from a different perspective of art led him to buy a small publishing company in 1984 in southern France, where he spent his summers. This publishing company has been transformed into  the space where  illustrations can be created from words, challenging them from abstraction, such as those made for  books by the poet and philosopher Yves Bonnefoy.

No doubt that the work of Hollán is a delight to the senses and an encounter with an aesthetic challenge that grabs the viewer.

For more information: http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=993

Nancy Guzman

To know more about this interesting artist one only has to rent apartments in Budapest after attending the exhibition go out to enjoy thousands of stimuli that this city has to offer you.

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Translated by: Marc
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Until the  13th of December the Műcsarnok Museum exhibits a  cycle of the best Hungarian cinema form the 80s. Projections at the museum are held every Tuesday seeking to revive an era where a rupture with the classic look of films -matched to socialist realism- is abandoned even if it is present as a burden of  films that emerged from the avant-garde  Russian movies where each image is a work of art.

The history of Hungary has been plagued by tragic events, that film has recreated with ability, thus, the historical film legacy is huge. Just taking a look at these films is to understand that Hungarian culture has been forged in adversity, which has not stopped them from having great artists, musicians and a little known rich film collection

Since the seventies, Hungarian movies are divided into two tendencies, one which focuses on formalism and another one that assumes the reality as the object of their stories. In both cases the strength of Russian films based on the perfection of the picture continues to dominate, that is, the look of film as art.

One of the authors included in the list is the director of the film Ecstasy. András Kovács ,a film director and writer who directed about 30 films between 1961 and 1996. He was a guest and jury at the Cannes Film Festival of 1976. Kovács takes the theory of great Russian cinema, by looking through the existential conflicts of the individual and observing the conflicts of the world around him.

Another of the great directors whose films are in this cycle is János Xantus, with his 1988 film Rocktérítő. Xantus has been enshrined in the international cinema circuit with his film Mephisto in 1981, which won an Oscar, 8 prizes, plus a nomination. The story is set in the early 30 �in Germany, where an actor, who lives without taking into account the political situation focuses only on his art. When the Nazi power grows, he sees the chance to work with propaganda for the Reich. He  soon becomes the most popular German actor, but he sees his friends disappear and does nothing about it, opting to only satisfy his ego.

Filmmaker and journalist Victor Kubiszyn and his 1989 film Árnyékszázad are part of this cylce, drama being one of his favorite themes that speak of personal conflicts facing contradictory worlds where reality and unreality are one-jointed.

In addition to these films you can also see  Time by Andras Monroy, Me Babe from 1993, by Peter Reich and The Self Control of Laszlo Fe Lugossy from1988.

For more information

http://www.mucsarnok.hu/new_site/index.php?lang=en&t=597&curmenu=109

Nancy Guzman

The Danube, the wide avenues and bucolic setting is a great incentive to live during this fall in apartments in Budapest and enjoy the hot springs, presentations like this film cycle , in addition to their top quality restaurants.

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Translated by: Marc
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Until January 15, 2012 the Budapest Ludwig Museum exhibits East of Eden. Photorealism a version of reality, which presents the enormous range of jobs and techniques developed by artists of the photo-realistic paintings movement of the 60�s  and 70�s , which dominated the art scene in Europe and the United States.

The exhibition explores a movement while little known and often devalued by art historians, is undoubtedly part of the development of Western art, which from its earliest forms to the neoclassic movement of the late nineteenth century can be seen as an improvement in techniques that would eventually lead to photorealism.

The development of photography, enlargement and projection of images was surpassed in the 60�s and 70�s, facilitating the creation of new painting techniques including the use of photography in painting.

The exhibition includes works by many major artists, as well as others who have been forgotten and some that are unknown. Among them you can see the the work of Robert Bechtl, an  American painter, considered one of the founders of photo-realistism along  with Richard Estes, Ralph Goings and Chuck Close. His involvement in photorealism comes from his own photographs and the reality of San Francisco. His work can be found  in the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art , at the Guggenheim Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, and  Museum of San Francisco among others.

William Beckman is one of the exponents of photorealism that is part of the exhibition. Beckman specialized in painting pictures of high emotional content with a slight Freudian sexual overtone using a method that made him famous, he painted portraits, then sctaches the surface with a razor, then repaints and polishes the fabric creating brilliant images. His  work is part of numerous public collections and can be found  in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Kunst  Museum of Modern Art in Vienna among others.

Bočkay Milan, a Czech painter deconstructs and achieves photorealistic images dealing with his fascination with surrealism. During the 70�s he achieved recognition with his oil paintings that presented enlargements of details of the human body and everyday objects.

John Clem Clarke is one of the most famous American pop artist of the 60�s . He was known for reworking old masters and then going the flea markets searching for old photographs or old images for his paintings. He was very prolific and inventive in creating photorealistic techniques, and is  considered a master of contemporary American art for imposing icons that identify an era with his paintings.

In addition to the works of these great exponents of photorealism, there are  more than 20 artists who use photo-realism as a method of artistic expression in their works.

For more information

http://ludwigmuseum.hu/site.php?inc=kiallitas&kiallitasId=762&menuId=44

Nancy Guzman

If you don�t know how photography was used to perform great works of art and are curious about this technique, this is a great chance to explore it if you are on holidays in apartments in Budapest during this autumn.

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Translated by: Marc
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Autumn is usually that time of the year that is often taken for granted, to which no one pays attention to. What I mean is that summer is always a solid block of heat and high temperatures while winter is bitter cold, it snows in some parts and there are fewer opportunities to leave home. Spring and autumn move from one pole to another. But autumn holds the promise of the end of an era, the days transfer from heat to a more comforting temperature. During fall longer walks occur due to the nice cozy weather, riding bikes, drinking coffee on the streets or just smoking a cigarette while the leafs fall of the trees is a tradition practiced by many. The smell in the streets also changes, the dry tree leafs spreads through the air, after every step you hear the rustle of the leafs under your shoes. Transiting through the city becomes more peaceful and especially if you live in a city like Budapest, the influx of tourists and walking is reduced and the center becomes more comfortable and interesting.

Budapest yet, despite the large number of tourists coming to the streets, does not reach the degree of madness that places like Paris, London, New York and Berlin have during their summers. Summer in New York for example, is very uncomfortable with so many tourists on the subway checking their maps lost in the vastness of the underground, filling the streets of Times Square photographing every single moving object, eating junk, food. The Eiffel Tower in Paris fills with never ending cues of people, the Thames river is plagued by a line of people taking photos. But Budapest,  despite much of its tourism its magic remains intact. Imagine walking in autumn through the streets, feeling  the beauty of the people of Hungary, enjoying your meal in the temperate climate of autumn without any haste, strolling through the ancient and romantic streets this wonderful city has to offer its visitors

Another reason to be in Budapest is the Autumn Festival taking place in this city every year. During these days, Budapest is full of options You can listen to or see the best art, music, photography, sculpture, dancing and many more experimental arts and fashion as well as all the new multimedia technology. Exhibitions and film screenings complete this great event. This is a feast for any art lover or anyone who wants to know more of what is done today in the world of contemporary expression.

For more information, visit the following website : http://www.fesztivalvaros.hu/

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Budapest and discover the wonders that this city has to offer during fall, along with its its vibrant cultural scene that has something for everyone. Do not miss this opportunity during fall, where it is also possible to find very comfortable flights and mingle with people on the streets more in talking mood than in a smashing bars one. Budapest Autumn magic just for you and your people.

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The Ludwig Museum in Budapest offers another interesting example with the aim of promoting contemporary artistic movements from Eastern Europe. From September 14th until January 15, of 2012 you can visit the exhibition dedicated to Photorealism movement “East of Eden: Versions of Reality”.



Photorealism, which in Eastern Europe has acquired certain peculiarities, was an art movement born in the United States between the late �60s and early �70s. It was a type of painting that used photography as a starting point for creating highly realistic paintings, which creates a disorientation in the viewer when trying to understand the techniques used by the artist.

This movement evolved from Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism,and was heavily criticized at the time of its maximum expansion for the use of photography, but visual artists have used various instruments to support their work since the fifteenth century. Today, these criticisms would be unacceptable, as many contemporary artists do not produce their works, but they are commissioned, or also in other cases, create projects that involve a group of experts that add complexity and expertise to parts of the art piece  (whether they are scientific, professionals or ordinary people).

But the point is that the emergence of the photographic technique was a turning point for painting and was a very interesting development of this language: the inevitable impression of reality in film, photography was established as a representation tool of reality par excellence. The light was printed exactly as pictured in the environment, recreating it in a extremely faithful way. Paintings then, are free of obligations, for it  is endemic and could move farther and farther toward abstraction.

In Eastern Europe, the Photorealism art movement has been as strong as in the U.S. in the �60s and �70s, although the realistic representation was completely different because of the traditions and the specific conditions of these countries, in addition to trying to satisfy political demands.

One of the most interesting artists presented in this important group show certainly is Gérard Gasiorowski, an artist born in 1930 in Paris and who died in 1986. His greatest success was his first hyper-realistic paintings (in the exhibit the famous “L�Approche” from 1965 can be seen), but the next phase of his artistic development, which is released as a “suicide pictorial” where he is  trying to wipe off  the paint by heavily criticizing  Western traditio and the art market (“Albertine”, series from 1971).

You can find more information on the link

http://www.ludwigmuseum.hu/site.php?inc=kiallitas&kiallitasId=762&menuId=44

menschauser

If you wish to visit “East of Eden: Versions of Reality” I recommend that you rent apartments in Budapest and enjoy a stay in this interesting city and visit its multiple cultural offerings.

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Video art is one of the most used ways of artistic expression in today�s world. From the first experiments that took place at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s by people like Nam June Paik, Andy Warhol or Fred Forest, the use of the video as a way of support, it has been used as well as an undisputed catalyst of images and resolutions, colour textures and moving figures, as an entrance so that sound can be more relevant in galleries and museums, chained to the image, in which way it became essential in performances, facilities and exhibitions. And, of course, despite cinematography and television already being audio and image united as issuers of meaning, on the other hand, the video gives any camera user enough potential to become the generator of visual and sound realities and the possibility of telling a story or changing history. The experience of the apprehension of the video is completely different. It�s not cinema, it�s not TV, it�s video!

That way, the democratic encounter with the video, is in understanding the rest of the possibilities that it holds and will hold. Today, all of us are potential video artists, from our multiple webcams, computers and webpages. The visual consumer of this time isn�t passive and shouldn�t stop being so. Recently, via YouTube, we�ve been able to be aware of peaceful, political movements in different countries, thanks to tapes that were uploaded onto the net in real time, informing a public who is ever-desiring for fresh information and, above all, with the will to want to “share” images, sounds, videos, art, etc. It�s funny to acknowledge that in the first experimental experiences with video, there are the first traces of video games, digital animation, 3D, current advertising and pornography.

And thus, the information unfolds around the world quicker and quicker and more precisely all the time. What we call “sharing” from social networks, is closer to a viral or contagious process, where information can�t stop and runs it�s course. Video art, with all of its potential and the tradition that it represents, has contributed during the last twenty years to create better communication and serving platforms, from its experimentalism to developing better information transmission methods on the net. The video art culture, it has to be said, comes in the same way with the sounds of electronica, digital curiosity and mass media. All of these phenomenons, discussions and projections of the best European video art, can be found at Crosstalk Festival of Video Art in Budapest, which will take place in July. For more information on the event, as well as timetables and presentations, visit this website which will shortly be updated:  http://crosstalk.hu/

Alexa Ray

Nothing better than renting apartments in Budapest and getting to know the best European video art. Have a great time, also, in one of the cities with more history and beauty that remain on the old continent. Art is always the best excuse to find new friends and problems.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Metalfest is the most anticipated metal music festival for the lovers of music�s most explosive genre, and which will take place in Budapest from the 3rd to the 5th of June of 2011  in the Youth Camp Leisure Centre. This festival known as the “Liberty Party” is celebrated outdoors attracts thousands of European Metal and specially Eastern European metal band fans, and is conceived as a open air event committed to the gathering of global metal tribes of the most intense metal bands

Heavy Metal or Metal Music was born in the early seventies and the term “heavy metal” is said to have been invented by William S. Burroughs in his novel “The Soft Machine” whose character Uranian Wally is nicked named  The Heavy Metal kid due to his addiction to hardcore drugs. There are others that situate the origin of this word after hearing some remarks about the quality of Jimi Hendricks music, qualifying it as heavy metal falling from the skies, even though the most assertive point out that heavy metal is related with deep decadence  and is an expression that gathers the social effects of the Vietnam war and the reflective crisis of ethic values in the industrial societies developing their dark and somber dressing code of black leather, piercings, studs and bullet belts.

Heavy Metal music originates from the North American blues and  British rock movements, specially with the performances of bands like Cream or The who, who would use distortion and feedback to end their shows creating a brutal aural experience. This sound transformation process generated an interest for new bands, that definitely saw in rocks shallow melodic music bands of the time as an unqualified representation of the general youth feeling where dark heavy sounds were more appropriate,

Metal is a movement that is born in the London underground and expands throughout the world as an counter-cultural expression. Amongst the very first metal bands, Judas Priest is one of the most well known and became a worldwide famous band with a legion of hundreds of thousands of followers.

Since that moment, Heavy Metal became a landmark of the outsiders,  feared for its dark aesthetical dressing code, intense antisocial lyrics and the brutal guitar volume, many considered it a music genre that came from the devil. Fearful countries like china or middle eastern ones banned heavy metal concerts considering them dangerous for the youth, luckily that has changed and metal concerts are no longer seen as a threat in the vast majority of countries

Since the seventies, heavy metal has created a whole array of sub categories such as Speed Metal, Death Metal, White Metal, Doom Metal, Metalcore among many others. This festival will unite bands of many different metal styles, such as the band Piranha from Latin America ,Metal 4 Bremen from Germany or Metalflirt from Denmark

This year�s Metalfest will be a huge party where festival goers will only have to bring their tents to spend a couple of incredible fun days seeing their favorite metal groups along with escapades to all kinds of shopping booths in the festival�s premises  to buy merchandise of their favorite bands. If you want to enjoy a new and intense experience, don�t miss th

More info:  http://www.hu.metalfest.eu/

Nancy Guzman

If you plan to stay a few days in apartments in Budapest you should  attend this free music festival.

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Translated by: Marc
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