Robert Czibi

I am a visual artist of Roma heritage who migrated from Hungary to London in 2010 and contributed to the capital’s art scene from the outset. I started painting in the early 90s, while I was studying and working as a member of the Open Studio Art Foundation of Városliget in Budapest. In 2004, following Hungary’s EU accession, I travelled to Greece and Cyprus, and worked in Athens and Crete before returning to Central Europe for my first solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Budapest. In the following years I participated in various art projects and workshops in Hungary, also I was influenced by a Roma art group, where I started to focus on issues of ethnicity, identity and values of Roma culture.
Today my Romani heritage has an impact on my choice of themes, it relieves my exploration of across real life and artistic context and allows for a new qualities to appear in creative output and everyday life. Alongside acrylic, pastel chalk and watercolour my current interest include image transfer and collage techniques. During a mixed media art course in collage, I began to explore a different form of expression, using image transfer and watercolour combined on paper. I often apply patterns and artefacts from the traditional Roma culture into contexts which lies beyond what is usually understood by, and expected of, Roma art. This is an exploration of the borrow-ability of elements of culture through art, images and media.