István Vágó

Enamel artist István Vágó committed himself to his unique branch of enamel painting nearly 25 years ago. It is a magical material and technique. With the right skills, the enameller develops a unique technique that is like a fingerprint. Later, the style evolves. In his case, an interest in history led directly to the historicising style, and thus to the reworking of myths into legends. He also likes to explore a wide variety of styles and trends. He finds a Renaissance or Art Deco theme challenging and immersive, or even boldly mixes different styles in a collage-like manner.

The road he has travelled so far has been varied and hard-fought, lined with shining stones of hope and deep pits of failure and despair. He learned from masters such as Zsigmond Károlyi and Ernő Tolvay, who made him realise at an early age that his talent should not be wasted and guided his imagination, which ran riot between techniques, to use means to express his philosophical ideas in a way that could adequately convey the subtle tremors of serious thought, so that it could trigger an inner process in the viewer. He thus exploits the sensory, but above all the conceptual, illusionistic and conceptual possibilities offered by transparency, opacity, concealment and repainting.

His works combine the tools of symbolism with the knowledge, creed and rebirth of the Renaissance world, the shimmering, fabulous warm colours of Romanticism, and the broad narrative tools of decorativity. They are the pictorial formulations and expressions of a wise man's theory of the pensive, of a wise man's reflection on life. In most of his works he expresses his ideas through figurative elements. His message is presented and explained sometimes only by colour, sometimes by non-figurative elements, backgrounds and suggestive pictorial details surrounded by patterns. If we take the time to study the meticulous details of these works, we will find in them a deeper meaning, imbued with philosophical background and historical knowledge, offered by the brilliant but limited possibilities of the technique. It is difficult to define his style, but it is perhaps safe to say that, analysing his works today, whether his jewellery or his smaller or larger paintings, he represents a more or less Pre-Raphaelite-Symbolist tendency, in which Pre-Raphaelite Romantic traits can be observed in the figurative representations and elements, in the more sophisticated form of Miksa Róth's decorativeness and Gulácsy's surreal world.

His technique is of French origin, and within the Limoges enamel art it can be classified as one of the so-called painterly enamels, i.e. the painting of enamel colours on a metal sheet, which is related to the work of painters in the fine arts, watercolour or oil painting.

The works of the young but mature artist have been praised by masters such as Endre Szász and Mihály Kátay. But domestic success was still to come. In 1997, Walker Connor, a young American, submitted his work to the Cherry Creek Art Festival in Denver, where it won first prize on its first appearance in 1998. Each year thereafter, his professional success has grown and he has received outstanding recognition at numerous art events, and has been invited to participate in many prestigious exhibitions and festivals. (including 1999 USA Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, 2000 USA American Craft Show, New York, 2001 USA Winter Park Arts Festival, Orlando, 2001 USA Long Park Arts Festival, Lancaster, 2005-2009 USA Sausalito Arts Festival, San Francisco).

The symbolic images, works based on the formal world of Hungarian and other, mainly European cultures, with their mysticism, their additional knowledge and symbolism, found an open door to the room of art lovers of the New World, so success brought patrons, and in the meantime the Hungarian profession also took notice of his works. His name is associated with the Jamison Cinefest Award, a prestigious prize of the Miskolc International Film Festival, one of the film world's most prestigious awards, which has been received by many national and international world-famous actors, directors and cinematographers.

Over time, however, the message of the works has changed, becoming even more meaningful and profound. The artist, disillusioned with the intrigues of history, has turned to the roots of philosophy, to new paths offered by literature (Camus), which fill the works with new content that may also attract the attention of the national public. His aim is to "speak the unspeakable", to use symbols to point out the interconnections between the elements of existence, to present ancient myths in a 21st century way, to visualise concepts that are difficult or impossible to express in words. The visual symbols in his works thus also carry symbolic and emotional meaning, but they do not completely depart from realism, depicting themes that concern people, that are eternal and that have a meaning for people today.

(Renáta Herczeg - art historian)

Awards

• 1997 "Hungary 2000″, Special Prize of the Hungarian University of Applied Arts, Budapest"Hungary 2000″, 
• 1998 Cherry Creek Arts Festival, First Place
• 1998 Special Award of the Pest County Council, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest
• 2000 Award of the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest
• 2001 Winter Park Arts Festival, Merit Award
• 2001 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Festival Award
• 2002 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Festival Award
• 2003 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Best of Show
• 2004 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Merit Award
• 2005 Sausalito Arts Festival, First Place (Best Festival in the USA 2005)
• 2005 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Festival Award
• 2008 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Best of Show
• 2012 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Jurors' Merit Award
• 2014 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Jurors' Merit Award
• 2016 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Festival Award
• 2017 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Jurors' Choice
• 2023 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Best in Show
  

  Exhibitions

  Exhibitions in Hungary

  • 1997 Harlequin Gallery, Pécs
  • 1998 City Exhibition Hall, Tiszaújváros
  • 1999 RTL Klub Television, Budapest
  • 2000 Ferenc Tokaji High School, Tokaj
  • 2000 Eger Gallery, Eger
  • 2006 Miskolc Gallery, Miskolc
  • 2009 Palace Hotel, Lillafüred
  • 2016 Szerencs, Tourist Centre

  Exhibitions in the United States:

  • 1998 USA Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO
  • 1999 USA Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO
  • 2000 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2000 USA American Craft Show, New York City
  • 2001 USA Winter Park Arts Festival, Orlando, FL
  • 2001 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2001 USA Long's Park Arts Festival, Lancaster, PA
  • 2001 USA Hungarian Embassy,Washington DC
  • 2002 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2002 USA Objet D 'Heart Gallery,Washington DC
  • 2003 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2004 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2005 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2005 USA Sausalito Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
  • 2006 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2006 USA Sausalito Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
  • 2007 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2007 USA Sausalito Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
  • 2008 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2009 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2010 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2011 UK Blackall Studios Gallery, London
  • 2012 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2014 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2014 USA Sausalito Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
  • 2015 USA Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2016 USA, Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival
  • 2017 USA, Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival
  • 2019 USA, Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival
  • 2022 USA, Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival
  • 2023 USA, Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival