Where are you from?
I was born in Győr, a small town in the West of Hungary, near the Austrian border. But my parents moved to the capital when I was 4 years old, and I grew up in Budapest.
What is your favorite medium and why?
Primarily I use oil paint, but I always liked to use other mediums like watercolour, pencil, chalk or collage.
What themes do you pursue?
I am particularly interested in slow-processes. I do struggle with the fact that the world is so speed up. I want to see how it’s possible to solve that issue as an artist. I am currently looking at different ideas of slow, and the way things grow, develop and mature. That is one of the reasons why I started to paint incomplete, fragmented paintings.
How many years as an artist?
Probably since I first started the scribbles on the wall at my parent’s house without permission at the age of 3. But I began to use oil paint at the first year of the University of Fine Arts in Budapest in 2000, at the age of 18. And I did textile design degree at an art school before the University. So I would say as a focused professional it is 10-12 years as an artist.
Sketchbook?
I prefer to use words and photos as a sketchbook. If I have an idea for a painting, I write down what it is; and later on I can recall it more easily.
Most important tool you use?
A fine selection of brushes and oil paints.
Favorite font?
Courier New

“If I do not have love, I have nothing” is available in both original and printed form at Saatchi Online

Where is your studio?
Currently it is an ongoing process. I have a studio in Budapest, but the last years I have spent working in the United Kingdom, and had studio at various places in London and a 2 years permanent one in Falmouth, Cornwall. But ideally I would have one studio in London, one in Paris and one in Budapest and would spend 4 months at each place every year.
Tattoos?
No, not on my skin. But I would be happy to have my paintings tattooed on others. I always wondered why they pick the ones that are in the brochures at the tattoo places. Having one designed for you, that you won’t see on anyone else is much more special.
Favorite cuss word?
I don’t swear, and I don’t like to hear anyone doing it.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
“You’ve got to paint, never stop doing it!”.  The two pieces of advice I usually get is  “paint quicker” and “change your name”, but I never really took these.
What’s around the corner from your place?
Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth, Hampstead Heath in London, the Chain Bridge and the Danube in Budapest.
Favorite place to ‘get away’?
Cornwall, Victoria & Albert Museum, ICA bar, Late at Tate Fridays, Lukács Fürdő which is my favourite Turkish hammam in Budapest. And also a good place to get away is work in the studio or anywhere outside where it’s green and quiet.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
I like to start working with music in the morning, but later the day I always find myself turning the radio off.
Where can we find you outside the studio?
I love the Tate Modern shop on -1 floor with all the books. It’s a shame they don’t have some comfy seats. Or I can be found anywhere in a museum or gallery outside my studio. I also like to go to talks and events, at the Royal Academy or the ICA talks. And at exhibition openings chatting to people, which I do enjoy.
Who are your favorite writers?
Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hamvas Béla, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, Henry Gidel, Örkény István and Francois Villon.
Favorite contemporary artist?
Karla Black, Raqib Shaw, Do-Ho Suh, Giuseppe Penone, Miroslaw Balka, Grayson Perry, Michael Blazy, Lucien Freud, Polly Morgan, Joe Webb and Hayley Lock.
What could you not do without?
Painting, Perseverance and Family.
Day job?
No, I don’t have a day job, and I hope I never will. That would take all my time away from painting. I have a few ideas what I would like to do apart from painting, but only bits and pieces of other creative job every now and then. Like illustrating books, or designing anything from websites to fine bone china.
Process> Concept or Process<Concept
It is a mixture of the two of these. First I usually start with gathering images, taught, ideas and information. It sometimes happens that a visual image is generated by a text that I read. The other day for example I saw this: “Specific Grandeur” and then I start to assemble images that don’t necessarily make sense, but somehow I felt that they were connected. At the end usually everything falls into place.
Would you rather be able to make a living as an artist now or become famous after you die?
I would rather like to make a living as an artist now, but still be famous after I die. So, it’s both. I think it’s important that all that work put into painting is rewarded and I witness it.
If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
I would possibly be the head gardener at Hameau de la Reine, in Marie Antoinette’s village in Versailles in 1785-1792. And nowadays I would happily be someone who works on renewable energies, or design self sufficient or sustainable villages, houses. Or a farmer in Cornwall. But if I could choose from the creative industry, I think it would be designing and painting porcelains or haute couture.
If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Sandro Botticelli – Birth of Venus  or Pieter Bruegel – The Triumph of Death

Favorite sound?
A few days ago I went for a walk, and I heard a sound which I never in my life heard before. It was the sound of the floating sheets of ice on the river as they crushed into the river bank. I think it was particularly beautiful. But I like any sounds of nature.
Favorite smell? Jasmine. In one of the novels of my favourite Hungarian writer he mentions Jasmine as the only remaining thing on Earth from Paradise.
What was the uncomfortable situation you have ever survived?
Breaking my foot a day before I moved to London from Cornwall, and then having to travel on the train with a broken foot with no plaster on for 5 hours, plus with two canvases, a huge suitcase and all my brushes and paints. After arriving to Paddington, I took a taxi to Guy’s Hospital where my scientist friend works, and then got my foot plastered. I’m not sure if I really believed the situation. After all that, I started to work on two of my paintings in Tate Britain and the National Gallery for 4 months. And I had the plaster on for 7 weeks. It was really the most uncomfortable situation to survive.

The Unspeakable is available for sale for $77.00 at Saatchi Online.

Why do you make art?
Because I can’t imagine not doing it. It’s a must do. I could do without anything else, but not art. It all started with the fact that when I was little whatever got into my hands, I somehow had the urgent need to change it. Re-paint it, redesign, or cut certain bits off. And now I am a 24 hours artist, everything I do is determined by the pure act of being an artist. And I enjoy it! I do believe that if the source of making is that deep-inside force, than that energy will come through the work. And that is the most beautiful thing about it. Coco Chanel said: “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”
What do you collect? Spoons and Seeds and many things I find interesting. Images, objects, information.
Which living or dead artist would you most like to meet? Lucien Freud. Giotto. Egon Schiele. Many of whom I like I have already met with and shook hands are Grayson Perry, David Hockney, Glenn Brown, Tracey Emin, Fiona Rae, Anish Kapoor, Csernus Tibor and Istvan Sandorfi.

Greatest achievement?
The years spent with painting and developing it is my greatest achievement. Having the courage and all the persistence to do it and achieving that there is no limit in imagining something and being able to paint it.
How cleanly do you work?
Never a drop of paint on the floor. The Paint tubes are all in colour order. Brushes are always cleared each day, and the palette too.
Astrology or Astronomy? Astronomy
Religion or Pop Culture?Some days religion, and on some days pop culture, I think if you have too much from either of them it would upset your stomach.
Which artist would you have decorate your home?William Morris by Morris & Co
Couch surf or hotel?I would happily couch surf in a hotel, the Ritz would be too much of a challenge and big target, but would be nice.
Would you rather see your art on a t-shirt or on a billboard?
Billboard yes. I like the idea. Good size. I would love to see my works enlarged to that format.