Celebrated US comics creator and graphic novelist Colleen Doran will launch “The Art of Jozef Szekeres: Career and New Works” exhibition at the Tap Gallery in Sydney in November.
Doran, who will be in town to present the inaugural weekend Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Comics Masterclass, has illustrated the likes of Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Sandman, and who has worked for DC, Marvel, Disney, Lucas Films and many other major studios, is best known for her graphic novels series A Distant Soil which is on the “101 Best Graphic Novels of All Time” list. Doran was delighted to be asked to launch Szekeres’ first solo art exhibition, “Jozef Szekeres is an artist of exceptional ability, able to dance the boundaries of comics, fine art, illustration and animation. Pop, and charming, welcoming and sexy, dazzling colors and enticing, glamorous figure work. Exceptional attention to detail, inviting and lively. I love Jozef Szekeres, and the only thing wrong with him is that more people don't know who he is. Yet.”
Szekeres, who grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales and now lives in the city, is a Director of Black Mermaid Productions (BMP), a comics team recently turned comics publisher, working in the niche market of mermaid comics. His comic book works have accumulated sales of over 270,000 that have sold all over the world. Szekeres is renowned for his mermaid artwork, which has permeated not only his comics works but also his commercial illustration. Szekeres originally worked as a Walt Disney senior animator but developed into an all round Renaissance man when he turned to painting, sculpting and doll-making.
Indeed, he launched a series of 16” fashion dolls in the Elizabet Bizelle line, while also working as a gaming artist, mascot design consultant for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and conceptual artist on films such as Dark City and Cut. He now works as both a digital and a traditional artist, and his illustrative work has appeared in Blue magazine, the Bruno Gmunder’s Stripped Uncensored anthology, as well as event posters for the Sydney Mardi Gras. He currently teaches animation and graphic novels at the JMC Academy in Sydney and is working on a new comic book series Elf~Fin which will be released in 2012.
The exhibition, which is curated by Charles Heyen, will showcase his original comics and illustrative artworks that have seen print but have never before been exhibited in public or indeed been released for sale. “So many people in Australia and abroad have asked me to sell my artwork in the past, but like my father – ever the collector – I held onto my original art,” says Szekeres, “Now, after 20 years of art creation and my father’s passing earlier this year, I feel it’s time to release my art. I’ve enjoyed these pieces in my private collection for long enough. I’d like them to be shared and enjoyed by others. I see this as the beginning my career as an exhibiting artist.”
The exhibition will run for one week only from Monday 21 to Sunday 27 November 2011 from 12 to 6pm at the Tap Gallery, 278 Palmer St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. The opening night and artist reception with special guest Colleen Doran is on Monday 21 November 2011 from 6 to 9pm.
For more information on Jozef Szekeres’s artwork go to: www.elf-fin.deviantart.com
For information about the Tap Gallery go to: www.tapgallery.org.au
For further information email Jozef Szekeres on: jozef@blackmermaid.com
No comments:
Post a Comment