József Csató

József Csató draws inspiration from motifs borrowed from nature, combining them with dreamlike figures and other fantastic creatures in the creation of beautifully quirky compositions that are simultaneously figurative and abstract.

Csató’s paintings speak a very unique visual language and fuse a number of art-historical references in his world of fantasy. His compositions often feature totemic figures and hybrids reminiscent of ancient, prehistoric cultures and civilisations, which the artist deliberately fuses with European compositional schemas such as still life, landscape or even portraiture. In his unfettered visual world, characterised by humour and playfulness, it is not unusual for strange forms resembling plants and anthropomorphic hybrid figures to emerge from the surfaces of his brightly coloured paintings. His figures and forms are part of a kind of psychedelic and personal symbolism, in which the amorphous shapes seem to represent real, existing beings.

József Csató (b. 1980, Hungary) lives and works in Budapest, Hungary. He completed his studies at the painting department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2006, under the instruction of Dóra Maurer. A three-time recipient of the Gyula Derkovits Art Scholarship, he is also the winner of the Esterházy Art Award in 2013, a prestigious award for young artists in Hungary. He has held solo exhibitions at PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp; Semiose Gallery, Paris; Sean Horton, New York; Galleri Urbane, Dallas; Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna. His works can be found in numerous private and institutional collections, including Ludwig Museum, Hungarian National Gallery, Hungarian National Bank, and Beth Rudin deWoody.