Hungarian artist Patricia Jagicza gives an insider look into her artistic practice and how she views her work.
Patricia Jagicza
You recently won an open call for the Zucker Art Collection, can you tell us a bit about the piece that was purchased?
Patricia: The painting that is now become part of the collection is titled PLAY. I would define it as a still-life, but I tend to look at it as more of a scene that is set up of personal objects. It is about the relationship between two motives: the element of the first motif is an art book about contemporary figurative painting with the word “PEOPLE” written on its spine. The shadow of the book points in the form of an arrow towards an alter ego of mine made out of Lego pieces (this is called Chicken Chick) the compartment of which is the lid of a water bottle. The relationship, which is the triangle-shaped shadow itself, is the same as the symbol of the play button of various media players – this helped me when choosing a title.
The set up was done with a conscious playfulness; however, it was only after the painting was finished that I realized how dominant the shadow actually was. This kind of unpredictability and arbitrariness gives an additional layer of meaning to the picture. This is less the conscious part of the work, which makes it more exciting: it depends more on realization than intentional so that it acquires an improvisational dimension.
Play, 2014, Oil on Canvas, 115 x 70 cm, Zucker Art Collection
What usually gets you excited about a topic?
I find it exciting to figure out how various types of images can culminate in a single still-life. Self-portraits and self-examination are a part of this: I am interested to find out how someone can be represented by the character of the objects surrounding them and how lifeless objects become anthropomorphic. Can you define a person by the objects he/she deems important?
I don’t simply want to paint still-lifes; instead, I intend to build a unique world of mine where everything has significance. I find it exciting to incorporate the photograph of an interior into the still-life, to put an album of self-portraits onto a mirror, or to present an image within an image, to paint an already finished painting of mine, for instance. These are all types of compositions, where, in some form, I reinterpret and re-conceptualize these objects and the relationship between and them and also their relationship to me. The full personal nature of these is sometimes extended by the element of unpredictability.
There are scenes that venture from one painting to the other, thus establishing a special layer of meaning. I enjoy the play of accumulation and intensification with the least possible tools. This kind of play is also connected to reinterpretation: for example, to paint one of my already finished painting is actually not at all the repainting of that image, but the painting of the canvas in its own space with the image on it. This is why I wouldn’t call it repetition, but rather accumulation or intensification.
And by the way, I also love painting pink masking tapes!
“I don’t simply want to paint still-lifes; instead, I intend to build a unique world of mine where everything has significance”
GO EGO!, 2014, Oil on Canvas, 45 x 55 cm, Private collection
What made you want to become an artist?
It was never really a question of decision: I always felt deep commitment to art – some kind of an inner call, which by nature cannot be questioned and thus doesn’t need to be explained, at least for me. You could say it was self-evidently present from the very start.
What are you passionate about beside your artistic work?
It is hard to explain how I view life outside art. Art surrounds you no matter where you go, you only have to be more observant. I really love nurturing plants: it fills me with tranquility and good feeling to clean their environment and watch them grow. Also, whenever I find time, I like sitting down in front of my sewing machine and sew various accessories, bags, cushion clothes, or adjust pieces of clothes.
Mirror, mirror..., 2014, Oil on Canvas, 70 x 125 cm
What is next on your artist career calendar?
I would like to reach a higher level this summer. I will push my own limits, the result of which will be presented in the frameworks of a solo exhibition in Budapest in the beginning of September.
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