For the latest installment of our ongoing series of Artists You Need to Know About, we’re showcasing a painter whose work is nearby, in the Art Gallery of Hamilton collection. Attila Richard Lukacs has helped redefine painting, not just in Canada but internationally. His work is often as rousing (or perhaps arousing) as it is well painted, with subject matter that is both contemporary but also richly imbued with references and allusions to the history of Western painting.
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Glamour Crew, 1993
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Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Attila Richard Lukacs, 1991
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1-800-MIKE, dyptych, 1989
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Where the Finest Young Men.... (detail), 1987
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Arthur, 1998
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Young Spartans Challenge the Boys To Fight, 1988
Perhaps best known for his E – Werk series, ‘Lukacs is critically acclaimed for his artistic melding of high and low culture. His paintings demonstrate technical precision and borrow from diverse art historical styles, often returning to neo-classicism or renaissance realism. Lukacs has spent time living and working in Vancouver, Berlin, New York and Hawaii.’ (from McCauley & Co Fine Art). More information about his provocatively beautiful practice can be found at the National Gallery of Canada, several excellent articles at the Canadian Art web site and some newer works that show Lukacs still has an eye for employing motifs and ‘characters’ from the everyday to unsettle and simultaneously engage the viewer.
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Coo coo ka-choo, Mr. Robinson, 1999
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Seven Devils Dead, 2008
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The lazy kunstler, and the well travelled monkey, 1995
