Attila Mata

Sculptor

’Without Viewers Sculptures Do Not Exist

I create sculptures because it’s the Viewer who really matters to me. My goal is to catch his/her attention and to inspire thought. I would like to invite him/her to take part in the creation of the artwork using his/her imagination.

I enjoy experimenting with forms and all kinds of materials. I am interested in ancient themes e.g. sex(uality), death, gods etc. In my artwork the human body is usually reduced to geometric forms and reorganized as geometric structures. I am also attracted to the extreme. If my theme is a god, it must be e.g. Golem with his brutal energy. I find some modern themes exciting, too: outer and inner surface of the form, how to use color – paint – on sculpture, design, the structure of the material and its effect on form, combining two kinds of materials on the same artwork. During my career I have used a lot of materials: wood, bronze, aluminum, stainless steel, acrystal, in their natural and painted versions.’

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BIOGRAPHY

06/02/1953 Born in Eger
1977-1983 Studied at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, his master: Tamás Vígh
1981 Member of the National Association of Hungarian Artists
1986 Member of the Studio of Young Artists
1993-1994 Secretary of the Sculpture Section of the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists
1995-1997 President of the Hungarian Sculptor Society
2006 One of the foundation members of the Morph Group
2018 Member of the Matéria Art Association

Important Prizes
and Scholarships

2017-2022 Represented by Agora Gallery, New York (USA)
2009 2009 HUNGART Scholarship
1993 1993 3rd prize, 13th National Biennial of Small Sculpture, Pécs (H)
1992 1992 Munkácsy Mihály Prize
1987 1987 1st prize, 10th National Biennial of Small Sculpture, Pécs (H) Derkovits Niveau Prize
1986-1989 1986-1989 Derkovits Scholarship
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 Pop-up, EFKZ Festival, Biatorbágy (H)
2022 ‘Abstract Space Illusions’, Fészek Gallery, Budapest (H)
Vajdahunyad Contemporary (with László Sallay), Budapest (H)
2019 ’Feminae Metallicae’, Esernyős Gallery, Budapest (H)
’Space-Matter’, pop-up, Art Salon Társalgó Gallery, Budapest (H)
2014 Pince Gallery of Józsefváros, Budapest (H)
2012 Hungart, Olof Palme House, Budapest (H)
2011 Mono Gallery, Budapest (H)
2010 G13 Gallery (with Judit Rita Rabóczky), Budapest (H)
National Theatre – Ziggurat Gallery, Budapest (H)
Community Centre (with Márk Lelkes), Biatorbágy (H)
2009 Galleria 5, Helsinki (FIN)
Art Salon Társalgó Gallery, Budapest (H)
Hungarian Institute, Tallin (ES)
2008 Bartók 32 Gallery, Budapest (H)
2007 Mono Gallery, Budapest (H)
2006 Ráday Gallery, Budapest (H)
Éva Skoda Gallery (with El Kazovsky), Budapest (H)
Grand Hotel, Budapest (H)
Erdős Renée House, Budapest (H)
2002 Vadnai Gallery, Budapest (H)
2001 Torony Gallery, Budapest (H)
Art’otel, Budapest (H)
1997 Vigadó Gallery, Budapest (H)
1994 Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)
1992 Danube Gallery (with Attila Orbán), Budapest (H)
1991 Kulturzentrum Künstlerbahnhof, Darmstadt (D)
1989 Ulmisches Theater, Ulm (D)
Cellar Gallery of Pécs, Pécs, (H)
1986 Pince Gallery of Óbuda, Budapest (H)
Újpest Gallery, Budapest (H)
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Group Exhibitions, Fairs

2024 ‘ENGRAM’,Matéria Art Association, Club-Gallery of Újlipótváros, Budapest (H)
3rd Toolip International Art Contest, Final Exhibition, Toolip Art Gallery, Budapest (H)
Stefánia Sculpture Park, Spring Show 2024.,Budapest (H)
“Summer City Idyll”, Agora Gallery, New York (USA)
“ArtExpo New York, New York (USA)
2023 Red Dot Miami, Miami (USA)
‘Roads and Junctions’, K Gallery, Budapest (H)
XLII. Summer Group Exhibition, REÖK (Regional Arts Center), Szeged (H)
77+7 Hungarian Icons, Black House, Szeged (H)
Matéria Art Association, Tatabánya (H)
Shifts – Updated!, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (H)
‘Equilibrium’, Five sculptors, Etyek (H)
2022 Red Dot Miami, Miami (USA)
ArtRegister Exhibition, Budapest (H)
Photo Performance 69, B32 Gallery, Budapest (H)
“From Thoughts to Artwork”, PAKS Gallery, Heidenreichstein Castle (A)
Káli Art Inn Artpark, Kővágóörs (H)
‘Any Old Time’, Galería Azur Madrid Letras, Madrid (E)
‘Art between Thoughts and Spontaneity’, PAKS Gallery, Vienna (A)
‘New Contemporary. The Unique World’, PAKS Gallery, Munich (D)
2021 ‘PSSST’, Wilma W. Daniels Gallery, Wilmington (USA)
Red Dot Miami, Miami (USA)
Artexpo New York, Agora Gallery, NY (USA)
25++, Bartók 1 Gallery, Budapest (H)
Autumn Group Exhibition, Stefánia Sculpture Park, Budapest (H)
Group Show of the Matéria Art Association, Érd (H)
Pintér Auction, Balatonfüred (H)
‘Matter & Spirit’, Group Show of the Matéria Art Association, Cluj-Napoca (RO)
Spring Group Exhibition, Stefánia Sculpture Park, Budapest (H)
XLI. Summer Group Show, REÖK (Regional Arts Center), Szeged (H)
‘Transcending Passages’, Agora Gallery, New York, NY (USA)
2020 ‘7 Years – 150 Exhibitions’, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)
‘Morph’, Exhibition of the Morph Group, Dunabogdány (H)
‘Steel Stories’, REÖK (Regional Arts Center), Szeged (H)
Artonomy/2nd National Salon of Fine Arts, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)
2019 Antik and Art Budapest, Art Fair and Exhibition, Faur Zsófi Gallery, Budapest (H)
‘Horror Vacui’, Újlipótvárosi Club Gallery, Budapest (H)
Artexpo, New York, NY (USA)
2018 ’MORPH’, Exhibition of the Morph Group, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)
Spectrum Miami, Agora Gallery, New York, Miami (USA)
’Exhibition of the MMT (Matéria Art Association), Vaszary Gallery, Kaposvár (H)
’Lyrical abstraction’, Agora Gallery, New York, NY, (USA)
’Summer Group Show’, Onishi Gallery, New York, NY (USA)
Artexpo, Agora Gallery, New York, NY (USA)
2017 ’3D – 2017’, MANK Old Artists’ Colony in Szentendre (H)
Summer Exhibition, REÖK (Regional Arts Center), Szeged (H)
2016 ’Light, Color, Form – Polychrome Harmonies’, Modern Art Gallery, Veszprém (H)
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2015 38th Summer Exhibition, Szeged (H)
’Here and Now / Fine Arts/ National Salon’, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)
BIAB, 6th Beijing International Art Biennial, Beijing (CHN)
Quadriannale, Modern Art Gallery, Pécs (H)
2014 3rd Biennial of Sculpture, Art Mill, Szentendre (H)
2013 VOLTA9 (with Csaba Fürjesi), Léna & Roselli Gallery, Basel (CH)
2012 ’Sammler und Sammlung’, Ulmischer Museum, Ulm (D)
2011 ’Without Borders’, Contemporary Croatian Sculpture + Hungarian Reflections, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (H)
Pentamorph, Gallery of the Artists’ Colony (Ferenczy Museum), Szentendre (H)
Exhibition of the Morph Group, Stroganov Academy, Moscow (RUS)
2010 ’Human Perspectives’, Exhibition of the Morph Group, REÖK (Regional Arts Center), Szeged (H)
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2009 ’New Works in the KOGART Contemporary Collection’, Budapest (H)
Day of Painting, Ziggurat Gallery, Budapest (H)
2008 ’Selected Works from the Contemporary Collection of the Hungarian National Gallery’, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (H)
Budapest Exhibition Hall of Budapest, History Museum (Budapest Gallery), exhibition of the Morph Group, Budapest (H)
2007 Wien Art Fair, Vienna (A)
’Expressionistic Tendencies in Hungarian Contemporary Art (1980-2007)’, Danubia – Muelensteen Art Museum, Bratislava (SK)
’Ungarisches Accent’, exhibition of the Morph Group, Hungarian Embassy, Berlin (D)
’Skulpturen der Gruppe Morph’, exhibition of the Morph Group, Collegium Hungaricum, Vienna (A)
2006 ’Path, 1956-2006’, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)
MORPH (debut exhibition), Aulich Art Gallery, Budapest (H)

 

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2005 Ground for Sculpture, Hamilton New Jersey (USA)
Salon d’Automne, Paris (F)
2004 KOGART House, Budapest (H)
Salon d’Automne, Paris (F)
2001 American-Hungarian Exhibition, Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia (USA)
2000 ’With Art into the New Millennium’, contemporary sculpture exhibition, City Park, Budapest (H) 
1999 Hungarian-American Exhibition, Budapest Gallery, Budapest (H)
1998 ’Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Ost- und Südost-Europa, Stadthaus, Ulm (D) 
1997 ’Woman’, Vigadó Gallery, Budapest (H)
1994 Exhibition of Small Sculpture, Vigadó Gallery, Budapest (H)
1992 ’Acht Ungarn’, Neue Galerie, Graz (A)
1990 ’The Art of the Eighties’, Ernst Museum, Budapest (H)
1989 ’Kunst heute in Ungarn’, Neue Galerie Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen (D)
1988 ’Junge Künstler aus der DDR und Ungarn’, Rostock (D)
Studio Exhibition, Ernst Museum, Budapest (H)
1987 10th Biennial of Small Sculpture, Pécs (H)
Zeitgenössische bildende Kunst aus Ungarn’, Galerie der Künstler, Munich (D)
1985 ’40 Creative Years’, Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest (H)

Introduction

Biography & Prizes

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions, fairs