HARMATHY ART

Below, I discuss some of my art and look at the artistic process...how I made them...why I made them.


(Above) Harmathy, Madame X, 2003, Acrylic and oil on board, 28 in X 48 in.
Artist notes:  This work was a lucky accident.  I took over fifty photos of an artist who posed in front of one of her self-portraits.  In one photo she appeared with her portrait and a profile reflection of her face in the window.  When I conceived of the painting my mind was drawn to the Renaissance painters and their obsession with proportion, in particular the golden rectangle.  The spirals and divisions of the painting are deliberate and pay homage to the Renaissance painters who made no distinction between science and art.  They believed they could find universal truths through art. (The truly lucky accident with this work is that I made the mistake of spraying fixative on the drawing before I even started to paint.  What happened was that the paint mottled/blotched in a way that added interesting patterns on the face.  I worked with the mistake.  Furthermore, I used sandpaper to bring out the highlights in the face...so the idea was to remove paint in order to make a painting!)


(Above) Harmathy, Bar Code, 2006, Mixed media (plaster, charcoal and pastel on board) 32 in X 48 in.  -sold-
Artist notes:  "Bar Code" makes reference to the art of the Lascaux caves, 17,000 years old.  Compared to the wild Auroch bulls of the past, today's cattle (foreground) are docile, subservient and "manufactured."  The bar code tags are further evidence of their servitude.  The artwork attempts to show the gap between past art, in which art and ritual were inseparable, and today's art which is noted for its aesthetic qualities more so than its cognitive and/or spiritual invocations.


(Above) Harmathy, Untitled, 2005, Oil on canvas, 36 in X 24 in.  -sold-
Artist notes: The series above shows you the process of going from photograph to sketch to final painting.
It started with a photo I saw at a hardware store, posted on the bulletin board.  I asked the owner where it came from and he said an artist used it to pay for supplies.  In turn, I bought it from him for two dollars.  I contacted the artist for permission to use it (whose name was on the back of the photo) and made the painting.  This painting was a personal favourite and challenge for me because I completed it without brush, using only a palette knife.
 
  

(Above) Harmathy, Deirdre, 2003, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 56 in X 48 in.
Artist notes: This is another piece I made in the series of artist self-portraits.  I took photos of Deirdre holding her artwork.  The best photo showed her holding her work upside down which made it look like a mirror reflection.  I laid down the underpainting with black & white acrylic paint, then used oil bars to "draw-in" the painting.  I used a very gestural/sketchy approach because I wanted it to look spontaneous and not overworked.  It gives a feeling of energy to the painting.  The image shown above, right includes Deirdre for scale.

(Left) Harmathy, Blue Girl, 2003, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 76 in X 52 in.
Artist notes: This is yet another work I made in the series of artist self-portraits. Here, only a detail of the painting is shown, with the artist/model standing in front for scale.  This is the largest painting I have ever made.  I wanted to capture the complexity and intensity of the artist with this work.  It follows the same process as the Deirdre painting mentioned above, but involves a lot more erasure.  After painting a fairly detailed portrait with oil bars, I took a turpentine-soaked rag and started erasing back...the idea being that every artist risks "over painting" and ruining a work.  The most successful parts of your painting can be found backwards in time, so I erased back to the parts of the process I felt worked best.
 

 

 

 

 

 


(Above) Harmathy, Untitled, 2003, Oil on mylar, 48 in X 30 in.
Artist notes: Yes, another work I made in the series of artist self-portraits.  I took the digital photo file to a photocopy store and asked them to print it out big.  I laid a sheet of thin plastic mylar on it and proceeded to trace the image with oil bars.  After getting to a point of completion, I destroyed it by throwing turpentine on it and started over.  Soon I lost the image underneath and the painting took a life of its own.  I continued to paint, destroy, paint destroy, until I got the effect I wanted.  I painted this at the time when the U.S. was invading Iraq.  Consequently, my frustrations about humanity imprinted onto the portrait.


(Left) Harmathy, Insert Coin, 2007, Mixed media on board, 48 in X 24 in. -donated to charity-
Artist notes: This was a work created for the "Stupid Art" show at the Double Door Studios and Gallery.  It was also exhibited at the Georgian College Campus gallery (2007).  The artwork makes use of an actual operating parking meter.  The text was created on computer, then printed out and glued onto board.  My concept for the "Stupid Art" show was to create art that conveys how stupid human beings can be.  I collected a bunch of actual data and made it the focus of the piece. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


(Above) Harmathy, Greenstockings Lake, 2001, Oil on paper, 16 in X 36 in. -donated to charity-
Artist notes: This artwork was painted in an expressionistic style.  This was an experiment in minimalism: how can you create an image/emotion with the least amount of brushstrokes?


(Above) Harmathy, Theatre of War, 2007, Mixed media, 19 in X 19 in.
Artist notes: This is a piece that was first exhibited at the Stupid Art Exhibition.  What can be more stupid than war?...One answer: the glamorization of war.  The title, as you can guess, has many connotations.  Satirical, cynical? You bet!  The red colour commemorates the bloody, muddy trench warfare of World War I.  Everyone's shooting at each other!  Who is the real enemy here?

 

more artworks to come...

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