ABOUT
Máté Orr creates his own world that is simultaneously playful and capable of holding deep anxiety. Not unlike La Fontaine in his fables or psychologists encouraging young patients to re-enact difficult memories with teddy bears, Orr presents animals and invented creatures which offer the viewer a safe space to explore dark emotions. From this perspective, he examines the unchanging aspects of human psychology in the fast changing 21st. Century.
Orr’s style unites traditional oil painting with contemporary vector graphics. As both a graphic design and fine arts graduate, he uses Adobe Illustrator to draw his 2D silhouette-like 'notan formulations' and then, together with the realistic 3D 'chiaroscuro' details, he paints everything by hand on the canvas. His technical talent combines with an early, obsessive study of depicting space and form, which led him to attend autopsies for medical students.
His classical European art training established his love of art history. References are constant in his work with nods to the Lorenzetti brothers’ use of perspective, Magritte’s surrealism, and David Hockney’s set-like compositions. The continual shifting between the old and the new, the realistic and the abstract, the real and the imaginary, takes Orr’s work out of linear time and brings a fresh and dynamic approach to painting.
CV
Born in 1985 Veszprém, Hungary. Based in Budapest and Sicily.
Studied at the University of Fine Arts, Budapest:
MA in Fine Arts Painting [2011]
BA in Graphic Design and Printmaking [2008]
RECENT SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS:
2023 'Stereopsis' (Duo with Sándor Rácmolnár)- Várfok Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2021 'Schrödinger's Jaguar' - Várfok Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2020 'Flamboyance' - Ungarisches Kulturinstitut Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2019 'Eden Deconstructed' - Várfok Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2018 'arts @milestone' - Milestone Institute, Budapest, Hungary
2017 'Masks, Mysteries and Other Worldly Pleasures' - Fairhurst Gallery, Norwich, UK
2016 'Secret' - Ari Kupsus Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2024 'Picnic at the Park' - Coin Coin, Zürich
2024 'The New York School Project' - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2024 'Utopia and Dystopia' - Bodó Gallery, Budapest
2023 'Cicc!' - Hegyvidék Galéria, Budapest
2022 ‘Private Exhibition’ - Residence of the Ambassador of USA, Budapest
2022 'Tidal factors' – Duna Museum, Esztergom, Hungary
2021 'Other Lands Are To Come' - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2020 'The Very Best' - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2020 'Extraordinary Artworks in Extraordinary Times' - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2019 'Class of 2011' - Gallery U, Hungarian Cultural and Scientific Centre, Helsinki, Finland
2018 'Kvartett' - Trafó, Budapest
2018 'Summer Salon' - Fairhurst Gallery, Norwich, UK
2018 'Join the Dots' (Imago Mundi Collection) - Salone degli Incanti, Trieste, Italy
2017 'XY New Generation' - MODEM, Debrecen, Hungary
2016 'Arte Figurativa Ungherese' - Complesso Museale del Santissimo Salvatore, Lucera
2015 'Map of the New Art' (Imago Mundi Collection) - Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice
2014 'Talking Paintings' - Ari Kupsus Gallery, Budapest
2013 'Nordart 2013' - Kunstwerk Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf, Germany
2012 'Re-Painted Reality' - Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2011 'Fresh 2011' - KOGART, Budapest, Hungary
2008 'Paan Hwa E Who' - DSA Gallery, Sang-Ri Gallery, Hyundai Gallery, Daejeon, South-Korea
SELECTED ART FAIRS:
2024 Art and Antique - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2023 Budapest Contemporary - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2023 art KARLSRUHE - Várfok Gallery, Karlsruhe
2022 Art Market Budapest - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2022 art KARLSRUHE - Várfok Gallery, Karlsruhe
2021 Art Market Budapest - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2021 Art KARLSRUHE Online - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2021 Art and Antique - Várfok Gallery, Budapest
2020 Art KARLSRUHE - Várfok Gallery, Karlsruhe
2019 Art Market Budapest - Várfok Gallery
2019 Art KARLSRUHE - Várfok Gallery, Karlsruhe
2017 Art Market Budapest – Ari Kupsus Gallery, Budapest
2013 Art Monaco – Ari Kupsus Gallery, Monte Carlo, Monaco
2012 Art Beijing – Forrás Gallery, Beijing, China
SELECTED PRESS
2024 Utopia and Dystopia - Surrealism in the Collector’s Club collections (in Hungarian)
2023 VIDEO: Budapest Contemporary (with English subtitles)
2023 In Civilized Conditions, Stone Age Bodies (in Hungarian)
2022 According to Altruistic Egoism (in Hungarian)
2022 VIDEO: Birds of Sicily (with English subtitles)
2021 Painting That Evokes Emotions — The Wonderful World of Máté Orr (in English)
2021 VIDEO: Mirror, Mirror (with English subtitles)
2021 Animals, Humans, and Artistic Periods Collide in Máté Orr's Latest Paintings (in Hungarian)
2020 The Fantastic and the Distorted in Paradise on Earth (Essay in English)
2020 VIDEO: Contemporary Weekly (in Hungarian)
2020 Baroque Fantasy in D minor (in Hungarian)
2019 Máté Orr And Neobaroque Futurism (in Spanish)
2019 Françoise Gilot And Máté Orr At The Várfok Gallery (in German)
2019 Experience is More Poweful Than Logical Explanation (in Hungarian)
2019 Navigating Between Artistic Styles (in Hungarian)
2017 Máté Orr: Masks, Mysteries and Other Worldly Pleasures (in English)
2017 Links Between East Anglia and Eastern Europe (in English)
2017 Wordly Pleasures (in English)
2015 The Odd Orr. | Mate Orr. (in English)
2013 VIDEO: Rita Góbi Dance Company at Máté Orr's Exhibition (Performance)
2012 What is art doing in the bank? (in Hungarian)