Tamás Jovanovics studied painting at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and the Université de Provence (1999), followed by doctoral studies in Aix-en-Provence and Budapest (2004). He also attended postdoctoral courses in Provence and at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.
His art is characterized by a sensitive use of materials and tools, often combining rational and accidental elements through form, line, and color combinations. His early “line” paintings were created on white backgrounds, but from the 2010s onwards, he transitioned to black backgrounds. At this time, colorful lines began to appear alongside the previously dominant horizontal lines, now running vertically and diagonally as well. These ensembles of colored lines in the pictorial spaces are organized into geometric structures and sometimes into illusionistic (virtual) spatial forms with each color change. The ornamental compositions, resulting from the layering and interlacing of line networks, often create an optical impression of movement. Jovanovics’ paintings appear simultaneously moving and static, alive and lifeless. The line networks create a hazy, luminous overall image, making the visual experience almost fluid and causing the viewer’s gaze to lose orientation. The basis of this illusion lies in the repeated softening of edges and the blurring of contours.
The artist creates these effects through the meticulous repetition, layering, and shifting of crystal-structured constellations, producing new layers, while subtly skewing and displacing form systems. “I love to see and perceive something […] that dissolves physical constraints, suspends our gravity-conditioned awareness and perception,” he explains. He further describes the duality that captivates him: his goal is to “construct something that can simultaneously appear as both a ‘prison’ and an ‘ocean’.” This duality—prison and ocean, an expanding universe and a closed system, material and immaterial—is embodied in the vibrating, optically blended, thread-like color bands and the stability of the crystal structure.
Tamás Jovanovics’ works are featured in numerous significant national and international collections. As part of the Hungarian Universitas Program, he created monumental steel and aluminium architectural sculptures for three university dormitory buildings in Nyíregyháza. He is represented by the Einspach & Czapolai Fine Art in Budapest.
Tamás Jovanovics
Taksim Square, 2023