Vida Gábor | Genre painter

Vida Gábor (1937-1999) was born to a simple working Hungarian family in 1937. He became attracted to music in his early youth and received a music scholarship. He studied and mastered the flute. In 1956, he began working as a flute soloist in the Philharmonic orchestra for the Budapest Opera and continued for 25 years. Although, he has always been painting and sculpting throughout his life, he decided to dedicate himself completely to painting in 1977. Being a perfectionist, he decided to achieve the highest standards in this fine art and to create his own unique style.

His artistic ability has been influenced by his multi -talents and great technical skills. For example among his hobbies, he is a goldsmith, restorer of antique clocks, and an avid astronomer who builds his own telescopes among other things. Vida Gabor is considered mostly as self taught.

However he did not only learn existing painting processes and techniques, but he also invented many of his own. In fact, he had to design and make his own set of fine brushes and tools to satisfy his high standards. The technique that Gabor uses in his painting is referred to as Scumbling.

It involves the application of a thin layer of color placed over a darker under paint. The artist also has to apply numerous translucent layers on top of each other. It is a very complicated process and it shares some elements with Glazing.

Glazing is a technique of mixing color pigment with a mixture of oil, turpentine and varnish. The color floats in this medium and is therefore transparent. Each layer of paint has to dry first before adding the next one. The result is a very crisp and translucent look.

Gabor usually spends several months to finish just one painting. Most of his subjects are inspired by his culture and the old European World. His characters are very realistic and yet whimsical depicting a variety of scenes. He takes the viewer deep into his own world which combines reality with fantasy. He prefers to paint at night to fully focus on his composition. In fact, most of his paintings depict night scenes. The viewer will notice a source of light i.e. lamp or candle often used in his themes evoking emotions of warmth and magic.

He has been recognized and collected by discerning collectors through out Europe and the US. His small number of paintings every year creates a very high demand on his work. Vida Gabor is currently represented exclusively by Gallerie Amsterdam in Carmel, California.