Biography
Tibor Soskuti is a Hungarian-born visual artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. Soskuti’s visual language is distinguished by a remarkable versatility as well as a heightened sensitivity towards his subject matter, which simultaneously encompasses personal experiences and issues of a universal nature.
From small-scale drawings to wall murals, from computer graphics-based paintings to graffiti, Soskuti finds expression with arresting ease in an array of different techniques, materials, and scales. Through his artistic process he creates and subsequently explores a vast stylistic landscape, re-inventing himself over and over again as his attention turns to new, uncharted territory. His portraits stand as testaments to mastering the art of drawing with great naturalistic precision while his "Visions and Dreams" attest to his uncurbed fantasy and creative power. Many of his series are self-contained universes, capturing as well as responding to a wide range of occurrences in the artist’s life, thoughts, visions and dreams – his "Neurology" paintings and "Paintings for the Blind" being excellent examples of that.
Soskuti’s personal journey has been just as rich and eventful as his art: having worked with the Hungarian underground in the 1970s and early 1980s, he emigrated to Berlin in 1986 from where he would travel the rest of Europe and work in various capacities over the coming decades. Throughout his career he contributed to a multitude of projects in theatre and television and carried out numerous commissions as a graphic designer, photographer, and sculptor. These in turn fueled his independent artistic output, which has been and remains an continuous and compelling presence in Soskuti’s life.
Alexandra Koronkai-Kiss M.A.
“The moment of a marine state between daylight and dusk.” “Children in love, who materialize only partially” “The audience are bowling pins at an exhibition, and paintings are hung like banknotes” “Ties without rail tracks lie on eternal fields below houses hovering like clouds.” Memory fragments come to life. I evaluate the world and create associations. My life’s film creates moments, where the individual and known realities are in constant change. I see the finished image before each creation. Whether I’m travelling on a train, flying on an airplane, looking through the window sitting on my chair at home or just taking a walk somewhere, these visions suddenly appear as if they were real. I see these surreal formations since childhood. For instance: a real, peaceful female lion walks across my bedroom, in an arm’s reach – I fly above unknown cities and communicate there, while experiencing a great deal – a desert fox in a police uniform, which follows me, running beside my car, in which I sit, and it seems like it never ends. After a while I realized, that in reality the consciousness of the public opinion constitutes only a small part of the individual perceivers’ world. For me the creative process itself is like letting my imagination flow, and during a sort of meditation concentrating on a point (an image) through which I can become one with the world. This feeling is terribly satisfying and intense at once. All stress and suffering slips away, and everything that should appear to be important becomes inconsequential.
Tibor Soskuti
1960 Born at midnight on 21 May, in Budapest, Hungary
1960-1969 Spends longer periods of time with grandparents and in various children’s camps. Often wanders the streets of Budapest. Reads and acts out numerous books, plays the piano and sings together with his grandmother, a tutor and teacher to the artist.
1965 Gets first photo camera as a gift from his father
1965-1975 Studies music and learns to play the piano
1974-1978 Studies at the Török Pál Secondary School of Fine and Applied Arts in Budapest. Learns about graphic design and toy design.
1978-1986 His graphic works get published on a weekly basis in the "Magyar Nemzet" newspaper in Budapest
Creates his first paintings, exhibits regularly (see selected exhibitions)
Co-set designer with Gyula Pauer in various films and plays
Creates masks and posters for different plays at Szeged and Kaposvár
Still image photography for "Time Stops", a feature film directed by Peter Gothár, "MAFILM",Budapest
Designs concert visuals (various scenes screened onto performing bands)
Active member as a photographer and musician in the underground music groups "Balaton" and “Trabant
1986 Emigrates to Berlin, Germany
1987-1988 Carries out restoration works on an Art Nouveau building in Joachim Friedrich-Str, Berlin
1989-1990 Creates various large-scale paintings in Berlin:
Painting for "DFFB" (German Film and Television Academy Berlin)
300 m long wall-painting graffiti on a Spanish Suzuki car for a car advertisement
Wall painting on a house in Köperniker Str, Berlin
1991-1993 Assistant at Daniel Bartos "Filmausstattung und Design" (Film equipment and Design)
1994-1998 Assistant at Hans-Georg Karsdorfs "Werkstatt für Theaterplastik" (Theater Sculpture Workshop)
1996-2014 Works on set-designs:
Life-size Hugging Willows" sculpture and a Lilienthal model airplane
Making of "Stella und der Stern des Orient "in fairy tale movie," Kinderfilm GmbH ", Berlin
Modeling different objects, "Transport" section, sci-fi short film, "HFF Konrad Wolff", Potsdam
Spacecraft construction for the short film "Invasion of the Planet Earth" from the Langer-Kamitz Film Production, Berlin
Restores furniture and design objects
Creates various graphic works:
Web design for various artists
Designs and edits brochures for the, "Deutsche Akademie für Medizin Ayurveda",Berlin
Creates the logo of "Luisenhof", a factory building converted into a residential block in Berlin
Works as a commissioned fashionphotographer
Designs and constructs a two-storey wooden holiday home in Teupitzsee, Brandenburg
2006-2022 Realistic scenery and object modeling fom artificial concrete for various zoos, safaris, leisure parks, and playgrounds, as well as private swimming pools and exhibitions all over Europe
Creates new works in various media
Solo Exibitions
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University Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (1983)
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Vajda Lajos Studio, Szentendre, Hungary (1985)
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Studio Gallery '86, Almássy Square, Budapest, Hungary (1986)
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Gallery Ismus, Berlin, Germany (1988)
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Cafe Berio, Berlin, Germany (1990)
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Gallery Tagebau, Berlin, Germany (1999)
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Pipinoir Expressão Criativa, Funchal, Madeira (2015)
Group Exibitions
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Art Nykyaika Gallery, Helsinki, Finland (1984)
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Planum '84 Arts Festival Gallery Almássy Square, Budapest, Hungary (1984)
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Municipal Gallery, Szombathely, Hungary (1986)
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"Studio 86", History Museum, Budapest, Hungary (1986)
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Municipal Gallery, Miskolc, Hungary (1987)
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Annual Exhibition 1987 BBK Berlin, Germany (1987)
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Barcelona Contemporary 2 - 2021, Valid World Hall, Barcelona, Spain (2021)