Edit Cservenka
AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.
Edit Cservenka, featured in AQ Volume IV is a painting artist born in Hungary. She is known for her paintings focusing on amorphous figures characterized by intense sensuality and mysteriousness.
She received a Master's degree from the Painting Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2019. While at the university, she also studied in Madrid as part of an exchange program. Since 2013, she has been painting continuously and exhibiting her works in solo and group exhibitions in Hungary and abroad.
Cservenka now lives and works in Székesfehérvár, where she teaches art history and painting at the same art school where she qualified in ceramics. Teaching art history motivated her to use elements of old masters’ works and alter them through her unique way of abstraction. Beyond the twisting posture of Baroque paintings, her works also show the influence of Miró, Picasso, Willem de Kooning, and Francis Bacon. In her paintings, the human-like forms are flowing into each other, floating together mostly in empty, abstract spaces or almost overflowing from the frames of the picture. The bright body and flesh colors—pink, mauve, orange, purple, or bluish shades—along with the white colors summing them all up suggest sensuality and convey the desires arising from the physicality.
Leaning from figurative to non-figurative, her acrylic and oil paintings put the viewers in a balancing game, where they can get several interpretations. Nevertheless, what we can read from the pictures is that the focus is on human relationships and the questions of identity experienced through intimacy.
https://editcservenka.com
What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you decide to commit to this path?
I could not mark a point in my life when my orientation towards art first appeared; it is probably in my genes because I have always loved to draw, create, and make something, and that's why I eventually attended art high school. But I remember exactly what the point in my life was when I decided to become a painter. At that time, I had already finished art high school, and my life was heading in a different direction from the creative arts. I was not completely in my place, neither geographically nor in terms of life situation, but this brought me to a point where I had a dream, and in this dream, I saw myself as if I already felt at home in the art world. So, the moment I woke up, I felt this very intense determination to change things, and that was the exact moment when I decided to commit to a career in painting. I think the lack of art in my life inspired me to make art. It was missing, as if some elemental ingredient for a healthy life was missing. For me, art is like air or water; it is essential to life.
Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?
In my paintings, my starting point is mostly the relationship between the human body and its environment. From a psychological and sociological point of view, I have always been interested in how the environment shapes us. I have also found interest in the idea of mimicry in nature when certain living things change their external characteristics, colors, shapes, and textures similar to their environment to survive. We humans hide, also change, and adapt ourselves to the circumstances that surround us, although not in as spectacular a way as mimicry. I believe that this interest is the reason why I depict the figures the way I do, never showing the body completely, always only in fragments, disappearing somewhere in between the layers of paint. This idea evolves continuously in my works, depending on where I am in my life because I think that my themes closely follow my aspirations. In my recent paintings, I have taken a closer perspective, there is much more focus on my relationships with others and myself. And above all, the identity that is formed through intimate relationships has become important to me. Still, in my paintings, the intention to hide but also to be seen is present. Even if only in fragments, quite eloquent forms become visible, and the color and shape of the naked human body are more well-marked. Also, the way these human-like forms are connected is quite visibly sexual and physical. The great promise of love relationships is the possibility of progression and elevation by the other, when two people merge into one, dissolve in a beautiful moment, and even reach a higher spiritual sphere. Thus, the continuity of the fulfillment experienced while being together can only be created by the repetition of short-term pleasures. The pictures show greed, longing, and love, which consume everything, so catharsis is created by destruction.
What was the most challenging part of your path so far? How are you navigating this obstacle?
Perhaps the hardest part was the beginning when I decided that I wanted to go on this path. I ran into a lot of obstacles then, and at one point it seemed that I would never reach any goal. However, fortunately, through my experiences, I understood that this profession, like everything else in life, does not always go on a straight path, and the negative experiences I get along the way can also be constructive. I think it is important to enjoy the journey as well and not rush to the end.
What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?
Spontaneity and intuition have always played a key role in my painting methods. I like to allow myself to be immersed in painting, play, and drift with the process. In different eras and areas of art, but mostly among the abstract expressionists, the concept that action itself creates the essence of the artwork appeared. According to this, the most important component of painting is the direct experience of the process. For me, it is an exceptional feeling of immersing myself in the liberating activity of painting, when time doesn't just fly away but rather expands. When the flow and drift of the process becomes fruitful, moves great energies, and a short moment can seem like hours. I believe this is the best way to discover many surprising new things. In addition to spontaneity, I usually use conscious creative methods at the same time. By eliminating control, I can create fascinating non-figurative surfaces, abstract shapes and patterns, and surprising color pairings, which I can then consciously transform into more concrete forms, scenes, and compositions.
Do you have any start or stop rituals before creating?
...matcha latte and music can get me in the mood to paint. To put it seriously, I don't have just one well-established ritual or habit, I choose the starting point for painting based on feeling. But of course, there are also situations when there is no time to wait for this urge to come, and I have to create anyway because of deadlines. Usually, if I have an idea that I want to make happen, I can put almost everything aside immediately to make that happen.
What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?
My pictures cannot be only interpreted as scenes that simply depict physicality. For me, in my paintings, the focus is always on the individual's relationship to the environment or others. The body is never a specific person, but a sign of the person in general, and the seemingly erotic connections emerging through the forms proclaim the freedom that can be experienced in love. We should never experience our self-discovery through desires and pleasures as a sense of guilt or as a sin. Also, we should treat our relationships, each other, and ourselves without bias. Prejudicial behavior and thinking set limits, reject the possibility of learning and self-growth, and generate bad energies, which I think is incompatible with the life that we collectively want to turn in a better direction. At the same time, I consider it very important that the spectators can experience their impressions without being influenced by all the theoretical perspectives that I was thinking of while painting. I want the viewers to freely interpret what they see. And I think that due to the simultaneously abstract and figurative depiction, the receiver can find multiple choices.
Share a mantra or favorite quote that keeps you going.
Perhaps what I have to remind myself very often now is that, above all else, I have to be kind to myself, I have to love myself first. I've been in a lot of situations in the past when I was taken advantage of or disrespected because of my kind and understanding behavior. Now I know that I have to be kind to myself first, I have to give myself love or respect because I cannot count on others giving me that. This is a reminder for me to focus on what is important.
