Tibor Csiky (1932-1989)

Visual artist, sculptor. Like other neo-avant-garde artists of the period, such as Gyula Pauer, Tibor Csiky began his artistic career as a self-taught sculptor. His artistic practice was determined by his interest in natural sciences, his studies in physics and mathematics between 1950 and 1953, and then at the Faculty of Humanities until 1956. He created his first sculptures and then his reliefs at the beginning of the 1960s. In the beginning, he mainly created his sculptures using different trees, such as cherry, walnut, mahogany or oak, and shaped their surface by sanding and carving. From 1967 to 1971, he also created ink and pencil drawings by mixing the techniques, and he also related the essence of his graphics to his reliefs. In his works, he researched the material itself and the possibilities of geometry and movement inherent in its structure, as well as the optical process unfolding in the viewer, triggered by the sight of both organic, yet processed surfaces, during which an active relationship and interaction between the viewer and the work of art are created. From 1971 to 1974, Csiky created conceptual works featuring texts and photographs, and then from the end of the 1970s, he had the opportunity to cast metal and switched to the use of materials such as bronze or aluminium. From the mid-1980s, he painted and coloured the surface of his sculptures and reliefs. His works made with a constructivist approach can also be linked to structuralism and minimal art. Csiky’s works were exhibited in numerous solo and group shows, and a retrospective exhibition of his works was organized by the Hungarian National Gallery in 1994. His works can be found in the collections of the Ludwig Museum in Aachen, the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest and the Neue Galerie in Aachen, among others.