FERENC PACZKA

Artist Statement

For most of my professional life, my technique has been oil on canvas. I believe in a strong foundation in drawing. My style has changed throughout the years. I was challenged very early on, to begin confronting and painting canvases at the request of a mentor. Now I know that for me, that chance was the way to follow the path of this calling.

This process defined my early years as a painter. Now with the knowledge acquired, I can say that most of my work is conceptualized beforehand. I rarely paint something without planning it first. It is an integral step in my painting process. It is thinking before blurting out meaningless words. The elements that constitute my imagery have a solid foundation in the school of Surrealism.

Inspiration is not here nor there, it is in front of us. Whether we want to grasp it is up to us. That is what constitutes us. Man is, to say it in one word, the “magnet” of the world. Thanks to us, everything that surrounds us has a meaning and a purpose. Without humans every single thing would be worthless and wordless. The existence of the Word is amazing. It is a powerful tool. It defines things, classifies, feed us with the information necessary to understand what is in front of us.

At some point in my career I started working with poetry by putting words and phrases in my work. Is it a defining purpose? I do not think so. Its purpose is to provide material to stimulate the imagination. Some elements will seem unusual, but so are the children of the world and madmen. Man realizes himself when he accomplishes change, and by doing so, he recovers himself. He becomes what he really is. Change is what I lay down on the canvas. That’ s what I do… I am rediscovering myself everyday and unveiling the world before my eyes.