Visual artist, a seminal figure of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde. He graduated from the Secondary School of Art in Pécs, and then enrolled in the Hungarian Academy of Art and Design in Budapest, where his master was Ferenc Lantos. During his career, he worked in many art forms: painting, graphic art, collage, photography, installation and various performance art and action events. His oeuvre cannot be divided into distinct periods, as he pursued his artistic activities using the various twentieth-century art trends with complete freedom and autonomy from the very start. His paintings and objects mostly bear the characteristic features of arte povera, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Fluxus. Between 1980 and 1984, he ran the Mini Gallery in Újpest, Budapest. In 1981, he joined the International Mail Art Movement, which he remained a member of throughout his life. In 1982, together with Jenő Lévay and Imre Regős he co-founded the XERTOX group, which was active until 1995. His interest turned to Asian culture (literature, music, fine arts and philosophy) from the early 1990s, and he first had the opportunity to travel to India in 1993, which inspired a new aspect of his visuality, lending a more comprehensive and individually syncretic approach to his work.
In a brief overview like this one, it is impossible to discuss all the experiments, techniques, art forms and genres in Šwierkiewicz’s art. Besides or during the creative rites and actions and the performances accompanying his exhibitions, a multitude of reproduced graphics, chalk drawings, paintings, small sculptures, objects, installations and photographs came into being. He virtually used everything for his art: noble and less noble, natural and artificial as well as durable and perishable materials and even finished objects and industrial products turned into works of art in his hands. A part of his oeuvre is therefore difficult to collect, store and conserve. In fact, he did not care about selling his art, nor their canonisation. For him, the concept and the process and experience of realising it were on a par with the objectified artwork.
curator: Zoltán Rockenbauer