Kálmán Várady

Kálmán Várady (* 1958 in Hoffnungsthal ) is a German artist . He is descended from the Armenian and Hungarian Roma .

Career

Kálmán Várady studied painting at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences from 1979 to 1985 and in 1986 he became a master student of Werner Schriefers . Until the 1990s he made numerous, extensive trips through Africa, North and South America. These still have a significant impact on the content of his work today. Kálmán Várady is the father of six daughters. He lives and works in Cologne.

plant

Várady's works oscillate between painting, object, sculpture, installation and photography. His work focuses on magic, mystery, ritual and death. An object emerges from a collection of various found objects that is often reminiscent of a shrine, altar or a totemic figure: Várady artistically reflects cults, rituals and myths, local religions and magical processes from various, self-experienced continents.

After totemic art, playing with altars, magical figures and private cults had long been in the foreground, Várady has recently been focusing more on his Roma origins on an artistic and political level. For example, the series of photographs “Familija” (2008) was created based on the typological record of the Sinti and Roma by the Racial Hygiene Research Center . It refers both to the actions of the National Socialists against the so-called "Gypsies", as well as to the current tendency to identify and categorize people. Because of his origins, it made sense for Várady to include himself and his six daughters as an image in this work of art. Seven people (the six daughters and the father) are photographed in today's police force identification manner. The series consists of black and white photographs of the faces in frontal and profile views and comparative photographs of the hands.

In his most recent exhibition GYPSY WARRIORS, which was on view in the Berlin gallery Kai Dikhas in summer 2013 , the aspects of traveling, totemic art and being a Roma were combined.

Solo exhibitions

Origin-future. Siegburg City Museum, Siegburg, 1995.
Gypsy warriors. Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin, 2013.

Group exhibitions

Rest disorder - a journey through the worlds of collage. Kunstmuseum Ahlen, 2013.
lost paradijs - contemporary Roma art from Europe. Het Duvelhok, Tilburg / Netherlands 2009.
The forgotten Europeans - Roma art, Roma in art. Cologne City Museum, Cologne 2008.
Poverty. Perspectives in Art and Society. City Museum Simeonstift Trier, Bread Museum Ulm 2011.

literature

Gert Fischer (Ed.): Kálmán Várady. Objects and installations. Siegburg City Museum. Rheinlandia Verlag Klaus Walterscheid, Siegburg 1995, ISBN 3-925551-93-X .
Norbert Bauer (Ed.): Close contact - the skin, the garment, the house. Klartext Verlag, Essen 1997, ISBN 3-88474-639-1 , p. 64.
Linde Trottenberg among others: Motherboard. Dortmund et al. 2003, OCLC 886412896 , pp. 22/23.
Kurt Holl (Ed.): The forgotten Europeans. Roma art. Roma in art. Verlag des Rom eV, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-9803118-8-5 , pp. 75-78.
Herbert Uerlings, Nina Trauth, Lukas Clemens: Poverty. Perspectives in Art and Society. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-89678-859-7 .
Thomas Schriefers, Roland Nachtigaller, Burkhard Leismann (eds.): Disturbance of the peace. Forays into the world of collage. Verlag Kettler, Bönen 2013, ISBN 978-3-86206-300-0 , p. 215.
Moritz Pankok: Place of Seeing - Kai Dikhas - Place to see. Catalog 3, Edition Braus, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86228-083-4 , pp. 46-55.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Várady, Kálmán
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German artist
DATE OF BIRTH	1958
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hope valley