Young Talents And Smell Of Paint

Some time ago I posted about the exhibition I visited this year in June, made of paintings made by 11th grade art students. These exhibitions are different in so many ways, but that doesn't mean they are not as good as any other.

Young Talents And Smell Of Paint.jpg

When I entered the gallery, apart from the colorful paintings, the first thing I noticed was the smell of fresh paint. You don't smell paint often as usually the exhibited paintings are not new, but this was different. Most likely these paintings were for their year end exam, so it's understandable.

I love incorporating old paper, old newspaper in art, I'm planning one as we speak and was happy to see it here as well. This painting looked a bit too prismatic, but maybe that was the theme. I suppose they were given a vague theme and that's why you're going to see some similarities.

A still life with just a few colors, but it looks prismatic, just as the previous one.

See what I mean?

You need a little time, to figure out everything as the vivid, changing colors make the paintings a bit confusing, but that doesn't mean it's bad or difficult.

Another still life, just as prismatic, or geometrical as the previous few.

If you were to choose one word to describe these paintings, what would it be? Colorful or geometrical? I personally don't know which one would fit better, or which one would describe these paintings better.

20250610_111542(0)a.jpg

After seeing these paintings, I tend to believe colorful was a requirement. Anyway, here's a different painting, some musical instrument, not the conventional ones though.

One thing I was thinking while writing this post is, how would I react when given such an assignment. They say a good artist should be able to paint or draw everything, but that's not true. Limitation is the death of art and framing talent or imagination is what artists hate.

However, these are art school kids, there's a process of going through different phrases, trying out (almost) everything possible, learning what you can and practicing is what they do.

I don't think i could paint respecting such rules, but then again, I am not an artist and have no talent either, so I'm not in any danger.

Maybe this photo with the five paintings one next to the other can help you see that most likely they had a defined theme to work with.

Things change here, the style changes here. What you see here is three men, who may not mean anything to you, unless you know some Hungarian history. These are not ordinary people, but 3 prominent figures. The top one is a Hungarian noble, ruler. The one on the right is a famous Hungarian poet and revolutionary, who went missing during the revolution in 1848. The third person is (I think) a leading Hungarian military and political figure.

Knowing these personalities, I can tell you, the painting is really good. I love how the painter arranged the three people on the canvas and how they highlighted the faces. Really smart.

This one really surprised me. Look at the two faces. Look at the man's face. I see real talent here. The scene is really good. I love this.

This was a bit of a mystery for me. I can't really figure out what I'm looking at. A woman with a ring in her nose, the light behind her ... Maybe it has some mystical meaning I can't see. You tell me what you see here as I'm pretty much clueless.

I love this, look at the delicate look on the woman's face, which I suppose it's virgin Mary. What I love the best is the colorful background, the mosaic which also covers the woman's right shoulder. Really impressive.

Please note, none of the paintings had a title, so it was basically a guessing game, which I'm not against as it makes it more interesting and also saves you from disappointment, when you look at the title and don't understand what the artist meant, or it's totally different from what you figured out.

The gallery is exhibiting the work of the 11th grade students of the local art school each year, giving them the possibility to show their young talent to the public. I've seen two or three such exhibitions already and can tell you, it's a totally different experience, it's like looking at rough diamond. I love it.

I hope you have a favorite and can appreciate these young talents.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides: