Vanda
HUMINILOWICZ
Amphora with silver pine branches, 2024
oil on canvas, 120×90 cm
About the artist
The most striking feature of Vanda Huminilowicz's (1978) paintings is that the artist approaches painting not as a possible method of image creation, but as one of the most ancient and instinctual forms of artistic expression. As a result, when discussing Huminilowicz’s paintings, we are not necessarily talking about images in the sense of modernist autonomous imagery. In interpreting these works, the question—which is by no means insignificant—of whether these images depict something, express something, bear witness to something, or perhaps make us aware of something and thus establish a connection with another world, seems to recede into the background.
This points toward the source traditions of archaic or premodern imagery, which modern art itself sought to return to—whether in the aspirations of Fauvism, Cubism, or Suprematism. Therefore, when looking at these paintings, it is not necessarily a priority to classify them as either abstract or figurative, as in Huminilowicz’s work, these two represent merely the two potential endpoints of a single aesthetic program. What is far more significant within this continuum are the transitions, where, for instance, the figurative painting of a figure or object contains just as much abstract, expressive, and thus less representational, but more evocative artistic potential. On certain surfaces, organic or biomorphic abstraction blends with cosmic or even cubist geometry, while on the same plane, the outlines of an ancient vase, unknown plants, primitive symbols, and humanoid faces and figures seem to emerge.
This hybrid approach to painting, however, is extremely distinctive, crafted from a vibrant color palette that almost defies the heavy materiality of oil, articulated through continuous transitions between colors. This is why there are never any sharply defined forms on Huminilowicz’s canvases; everything is in a state of flux, one thing merging into the next. Here, objects do not emerge from clear lines but rather from some sort of astral haze, from the vibrations of cosmic abstract color gradients.
While these paintings often evoke visionary landscapes, the focus is not so much on the kinds of imaginary spaces they conjure. Rather, it is the material and sensory qualities of the works—the visceral gestures of brushstrokes that seem almost tangible on the thick canvas stretched over sturdy frames, the weighty materiality of the oil paint—that gain independent presence and spatiality in relation to these paintings. It is precisely this ambition that extends into the realm of the plastic arts, as seen in Huminilowicz’s expressive ceramic experiments and visionary textile assemblages, which, taken together, represent one of the most instinctive and authentic artistic positions in the landscapes of Hungarian and Eastern European contemporary art.
Eszterházy Károly University Institute of Visual Arts
Your move, my move, Klaluzal6 Gallery
AQB, Budapest
Dobozi, Budapest
Kelet Gallery, Budapest
Aluminium factory, Budapest
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Artus, Budapest
Artworks
Untitled (the postman's death on a perfume bottle), 2025
Oil on canvas, 90×75 cm
Tetraptichon No. 1, 2025
Oil on canvas, 160×110 cm
Paraphrase of Nebuchadnezzar, 2025
Acryl, textile, ceramics, wood, 250×300×50 cm
Paraphrase of Nebuchadnezzar, 2025
Acryl, textile, ceramics, wood, 250×300×50 cm
See me, 2024
Oil on canvas, 80×60 cm
Hand to Mouth, 2024
Oil on canvas, 120×80 cm
Amphora with stoat, 2024
Oil on canvas, 121×164 cm
I was made for dancing, 2024
ink, paper, papier-mache, 40×40×5 cm
Crazy babes (Moira), 2024
Oil on canvas, 120×80 cm
Not too good news, 2024
Oil on canvas, 160×130 cm
Cabbage amphora, 2024
caramics, 40×25×25 cm
Rooted amphora, 2024
caramics, 45×25×25 cm
Ritual object 3, 2024
caramics, 25×30×26 cm
Ritual object 4, 2024
caramics, 24×18×13 cm
Versace 2, 2024
caramics, 23×29×15 cm
Uterus amphora, 2024
caramics, 24×27×19 cm
Amphora with roses, 2024
oil on canvas, 120×100 cm
Amphora with passion flower bouquet, 2024
oil on canvas, 120×80 cm
Amphora with blue lotus, 2024
oil on canvas, 120×90 cm
Amphora with silver pine branches, 2024
oil on canvas, 120×90 cm
Vase with magnolia branch, 2024
oil on canvas, 152×99 cm
Horse with amphora, 2023
oil on canvas, 160×155 cm
Under the skin 3, 2023
oil on canvas, 80×60 cm
Under the skin 2, 2023
oil on canvas, 80×60 cm
Under the skin 1, 2023
oil on canvas, 80×60 cm
29, 2023
oil on canvas, 97×147 cm
Soul shattered amphora 1, 2023
oil on canvas, 40×30 cm
Soul shattered amphora 2, 2023
oil on canvas, 40×30 cm
With one face she look into the one reality and another face she look into another reality 1, 2023
oil on canvas, 50×40 cm
Graphic script, 2022
oil on canvas, 40×30 cm
Vases with faces, 2022
oil on canvas, 80×60 cm
With one face she look into the one reality and another face she look into another reality 2, 2022
oil on canvas, 80×60 cm
Vase with ears, 2024
ceramics, 30×40×23 cm
Ritual object 1, 2024
ceramics, 22×26×22 cm
Magnolia rococo, 2024
ceramics, 39×20×20 cm
Etruscan Versace, 2024
ceramics, 39×20×20 cm
Early Hungarian Baroque 2, 2024
ceramics, 18×28×16 cm
Ritual object 2, 2024
ceramics, 39×35×28 cm
Exhibitions
Hand to Mouth
27 November 2024 - 28 February 2025
“So she ran to the arms of America
And she kissed the powers that be
And someone told me (someone told me)
That the gods believe in nothing
So with empty hands I pray
And I tell myself one day
They just might see me
They just might see me”