Category: features

by Emese Krunak-Hajagos

The Graphic Arts Triennial in Hungary, takes place in a beautiful city in the mountains of the Bükk Nationale Park, Miskolc. The triennial started as a biennial 65 years ago, in 1961, then for several reasons, financial and organizational among them, turned into a triennial. For a North American reader 65 years sounds almost unbelievable. It is not an international show or art fair, but a Hungarian art event. In today’s rootless world glazed in international veneer, this is a major accomplishment, a triumph of Hungarian art and perseverance.

Reproduced graphic art was always a European genre—think of Dürer’s and Rembrandt’s work. It has been flourishing from the 19th century to the present day within Central Eastern Europe, in Hungary, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The genre has endless potential as both the message and the technical implementation harmoniously capture the possibility of constant renewal.

Because of the 65th anniversary there are two large exhibitions. One, titled Sixty-Five, is at the Herman Ottó Museum, showcasing all the Grand Prize winners from the very first year till today. The Museum’s rich collection shows an emblematic picture of 20th century Hungarian graphic art. It is a very interesting and entertaining exhibition where visitors can follow the historical, thematic and technical developments of reproduced graphic arts.

The Miskolc Graphic Arts Triennial 2026 fills all the rooms of the large Miskolc Gallery. Visitors first see the exhibition of the previous triennial’s Grand Prize winner, Tamás Felshmann’s, titled Architectural Heritage. At first sight I thought that I was looking at historical pieces of architectural plans or illustrations. The works are very impressive, large-sized and captivating. When you start looking at the details you want to know everything about the whereabouts of the buildings, their locations, originality, the architect’s name, how they were built and why and how they are depicted in this way. It is a unique show of majestic buildings. We can identify some basilicas, like St. Peter’s in Roma or St. Mark’s in Venice, while others depict public places, all representing our historical heritage through architecture. Buildings depicted by dark lines, grey surfaces or white, empty areas are perfect replicas of the original buildings. Still there is something more to them. Felschmann seems to add a magic touch that turns the buildings into something dreamlike, so even while they are real and proportionate, they turn into something beyond it, a heavenly place. The Basilica series, greyish drawings of symmetrical facades, sometimes with a drop of color, are spiritually intense. Even when the pieces are dark, they still radiate beauty and harmony. You can see that these works have been done by a perfectionist. Everything is painstakingly correct, but still spiritual and nostalgic, showing a bygone era creatively transferred to another age.


On the second floor, the largest room of the gallery showcases the award-winning artworks. Grand Prix winner Miklós Kelemen’s (Municipality of Miskolc Grand Prize award) Unfinished sculpture is both a commemoration and a tribute to the art of his sculptor grandfather. The large-sized work, composed of 9 prints, is very powerful. It depicts the creation of a large sculpture of a horse, maybe intended to be in a public square, following the old technique when the artist built a wood frame at first. We can see that wood structure is tied together with ropes. The surface of the wood panels and the texture of the ropes are beautifully drawn with sensitive lines and deep shades.

Tamas G. Kovács’ (Hungarian Academy of Arts Special Prize) biblical triptych is challenging both thematically and visually. While recognizing the narrative (The annunciation, The moment of birth, Massacre of the innocents) I hesitate about how to interpret it. Is it satirical or AI focused? There are robots with other AI elements in each composition, as well as mythical monsters mixed with machinery parts. There are many layers. The top (heaven?), the middle with the actual action, and something is also happening underground where they are digging a mine with strange machinery. Is it a religious composition or a set of tarot cards? Hard to say, but either way it is interesting. You can’t overlook it.

There are numerous young artists (more than 20% of the participants) in the triennial, Orsolya Cseh (Hajagos Imre award) among them. What is remarkable in her linocut, titled Wedged into my words is the way she depicts her motifs. On the left side of the composition is a large figure facing a ball-like thing with thorns, a bent tree, some vegetation on the ground and maybe animals. There is a crossroad in the foreground and a bicycle on the ground. What kind of world—imaginary or real—does the artist travel? The strength of this piece is the making of it, the linocut, that allows such a rich surface. The curving lines, the various patterns, the strong contrasts of black and white elements create a rich, expressive composition.

Anikó Csonga Kovács (Hermann Ottó Museum – Miskolc Gallery award) depicts a woman warrior in a Japanese fighting position. Titled Individual, she is alone and faceless. It seems that she is in a chemical war, with a container on her back connected to a tube that will shoot out the liquid. This is a linocut on layered plastic sheets that gives it a 3D feeling.

Mátyás Boros (Szabadkéz Gallery and Art Colony award) creates a composition in Totem 2, that mixes graphical and sculptural elements into a unique print installation.

The triennial is a huge exhibition with 114 artworks by 69 artists. We live in an age of rapid technological advancements, and the field of reproduced graphic art is no exception. New design genres emerge at a record pace only to lose their dominant role just as swiftly. This is the case with electrography, which used to appear in significant quantities, but this year its presence is negligible. The call for the triennial allows for a wide range of techniques, whether it is traditional or new and experimental. During my conversation with curator Ábel Kónya, the potential involvement of artificial intelligence was discussed, which clearly showcases that the organizers are open to new methods of implementation.

I was somewhat surprised by the large number of artworks that follow traditional techniques requiring academic training. The Hungarian University of Fine Arts has an excellent Graphic Art Department that most of the exhibiting artists attended or attend as the triennial allows students to enter their works. A good example of this a third-year student, Veronika Fürstand’s piece, Only I can truly understand. It is a beautifully lyrical composition, where a tiger comforts a girl by licking her face. Love and empathy don’t have borders.

Prominent pieces within the traditional category include the sensitive, figurative, soft-ground etching compositions of János Barta (Hungarian Graphic Artists Association award). Réka Dobi’s series, From late Night to early morning are outstanding images with their sensitive depiction of the various stages of sleep, waiting for it come, dreams, even nightmares and total escape from reality. Mietta Kerper’s woodcut guides us into a rhythmic rainy night, where red figures covered with various patterns walk along the road. It has strong painterly qualities and creates a meditative atmosphere.

However, this does not mean that experimental works are neglected. Several works refer to their unique techniques and implementation methods, such as in the case of Zsolt Durucskó and Dániel Lebeda, which encourage the viewers to figure out the methods used. Electrography is still present; examples include the works of Péter Berentz and Zsuzsanna Enyedi.

The exhibited works of the 2026 Miskolc Graphic Arts Triennale give a remarkable picture of the contemporary Hungarian graphic arts. It shows the thematic deepness and technical variety of the artists of our era. It also paints a true picture of social situations, political movements and changes, outlines everyday life and the psychological responses of people. Rich narratives and strong expressions always were and still are the main characteristics of graphic art. This positive outlook, both in terms of themes and techniques, I believe is one of the main reasons behind the genre’s survival. In Hungary graphic arts still flourish and will have a long and wonderful future.

Images are courtesy of Miskolc Gallery. Photo: János Ádám

Miskolc Graphic Arts Triennial, 2026, Miskolc Gallery, 2 Rákóczi Street, Miskolc and Sixty-five, 28 Görgey Artúr Street, Miskolc, Hungary, both May 9 – August 9, 2026

by Jennifer Leskiw

If you have never been to the Royal Canadian Military Institute on University Avenue in Toronto, you must visit and take in the phenomenal exhibition by Canada’s foremost contemporary war artist, Gertrude Kearns.

This exhibition, straight from showing at the Embassy of Canada in Washington DC, is a selection from two decades of work 2006-2025. Drawings, paintings, text/image prints as ‘propaganda-play posters’ capture the humanity and courage behind Canadian Armed Forces individuals who have commanded and form the military.

Kearns’ interest in conflict work began thirty years ago. Since then, she has worked diligently, both officially and as an independent artist. What began as a curiosity about Canadian defence progressed into years of research into Canadian Armed Forces missions. As a result, valuable contacts and relationships were steadily built on trust and respect with each sitter. Her artistic skill captures the essence of these dedicated individuals. We see pride, honour, strength and sometimes weakness, even the anti-hero in these faces. How much decision-making, questions about morality, emotional conflict and physical hardship, PTSD, have these soldiers experienced? Who are these individuals that have given of themselves so selflessly? What have they seen and lived through?  What is their message? Is there one?

The Gulf War of 1990-91 initially stirred Kearns’ interest in conflict work. From there she began to examine the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-99, considering the pressures on society and ethnic cleansing. The inability of UN peacekeepers to prevent the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 and the impact of that failure created a series of haunting work featuring Canada’s  General, Romeo Dallaire in 2001-2.

As a war/military artist, this journey led to Kearns’ admission to a training exercise at Petawawa, Ontario in 2004. Later on she was given the opportunity of real-life experiences, embedded in Afghanistan in 2006. It was during this time, about to travel in an armoured vehicle preparing to leave Kandahar City, a suicide bomber struck the convoy ahead.  Among the ten wounded were three Canadian soldiers. A diplomat and two other civilians were killed. After the wounded soldiers were brought back to base, Kearns helped clean the infirmary. Needless to say, this experience affected Kearns profoundly.  

She has worked steadily and tirelessly producing work, giving us a glimpse into a world that many of us will never see or experience. Lucky are we that are safe and sound. Concluding with more recent counter-terrorism, sovereignty and global security works, Kearns poignantly reminds us that war is never really that far away.

The Royal Canadian Military Institute is not open to the public, but Sunday afternoon tours of the exhibition led by Kearns herself, RCMI Honorary War Artist, begin on May 24 between 2:30-3:30 pm. Sunday tours continue May 31, in June on the 14th, 21st, and 28th; July 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th. There is a tour on Sunday, August 2, 2026, the last day of the show. Address: 426 University Avenue, just south of Dundas, and the TTC St Patrick subway station.

Confirm tour availability: RCMI (416) 597-0286, or contact Gertrude Kearns directly at contact@gertrudekearnsartist.com

by John Mendelsohn

Writing about Murray Hochman’s paintings is, for me, an act of time travel. I am in the present, in his current exhibition of very large, visually mysteriously canvases that have a raw, open spirit. There is my memory of Murray, many decades ago when I first met him, a daunting guy in a dim loft in Lower Manhattan, full of his art and saturated with the odor of spray paint.

And there is the man himself now, whose journey of 91 years has been a constant painter’s progress, with all the satisfactions and vagaries that that implies. Lately, Murray’s work has received well-deserved recognition in group shows and in solo exhibitions at KinoSaito and the current one at Gallery AP Space.

In writing about painting, I usually focus exclusively on the work – what it does to me, and all that it might suggest – hoping to speak for art that speaks for itself. But here I want to see how the painter’s story and the paintings merge in my thoughts.

Murray is half a generation older than me, having grown up on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1930s and 1940s. He served in the military in the aftermath of the Korean War. His deployment was in Germany, permitting him to travel in Europe, and work in ceramics in an army base crafts class. The GI bill allowed him to earn a degree in art history from New York University, and an MFA in ceramics from Alfred University.

Returning to New York in the mid-1960s, Murray’s early work drew collectors and exhibition opportunities in the burgeoning downtown scene. The influences that Murray was drawn to included Abstract Expressionism, minimalist music, and Japanese culture. Buddhism became a life-long practice for him, whose presence in his paintings is implicit in a kind of acceptance of what is, and how that can manifest itself in a kind of hard-won spaciousness.

All writing about the essence of paintings is speculative, but Murray’s move with his spouse Lois to the Berkshires in Massachusetts two decades ago seems central to the work in the exhibition. In this rural setting, the painter has a barn to work in, and the chance to produce large-scale canvasses, some of which are 10 feet in height. But beyond size, the Large Polychrome paintings have an expansiveness, toughness, and lyricism in which I intuit the presence of the natural world.

I sense in the painting Silver and Copper Abstraction, that that the metallic surface seems to evoke an iced-over pond, with a calligraphy of whipping, inscribed lines. In Stormy Polychrome, we feel the presence of gathering clouds and dying, persisting light. In Large Polychrome No. 6, the golden illumination of dawn or dusk fills the canvas, marked allover with a rapid sgrafitto.

In a number of paintings, we are in a watery realm, with thinned-out pigment becoming rivulets in a broken field. Here the exhibition’s title, Dissolution / Resolution comes into play most evidently. Murray uses solvents to open up stained or sprayed paint, resulting in droplets or flows in the shifting atmosphere. Large Polychrome No. 2 is a prime example of this painterly process almost creating the painting by itself. In contrast is the more vividly colored Large Polychrome No. 5, with its zones of red, yellow, aqua, white, black, and tan, animated by airborne, graffiti-like sprays.

In the gallery’s lower level is Murray’s Inner Spaces series, small-scale works on paper, elegantly mounted on silver grounds. These intimate works show the artist exploring a range of flows where pigment and solvents mix in surprisingly expressive ways. Also, on the lower level is a single sculpture, Camo Tower, representing a whole other body of Murray’s work. Found detritus from consumer culture is assembled into a cubic form, painted in a range of moody greens. In concert with this work is Murray Hochman, A Labyrinth, a sound piece by Fior Daniela, with an original score and Murray’s spoken reflections on his
work.

Murray’s work is resolutely abstract, but full of emotion, turmoil, light, and hints of transcendence. Constructive and destructive forces are both always present, playing out the performance of an existential drama. The painter allows paint to become a practice and path, a way of losing and finding oneself.

Murray Hochman Dissolution / Resolution at Gallery AP Space, New York, April 2 – May 10, 2026

by Roy Bernardi

A lifetime devoted to artistry. The illustrious Sybil Goldstein  (1954-2012) currently having a retrospective of a lifetime of painting and artistic endeavours. A dedicated artist that couldn’t stop working and creating. She created art everyday leaving a massive collection of paintings, drawings, and works on board, canvas, and paper. The exhibition showcases Goldstein’s previously unseen pieces to the public, celebrating her vital role in Toronto’s cultural narrative.

Sybil Goldstein / URBAN MYTHS, an extensive exhibition showcasing her life’s work. Curated by David Liss, it is currently on display at Koffler Arts from January 20th to March 1st, 2026. “By bringing her long-hidden pieces into public view, the exhibition not only honours Goldstein’s remarkable legacy but also reaffirms her place within the cultural history of Toronto and the wider artistic movements that shaped her generation ,” says Liss. 

A number of her works were sold at an auction that took place shortly after her passing. Any pieces that did not sell — which comprised the majority of her artistic creations, amounting to over a thousand works — were kept by her family. Now, thirteen years following her death, Sybil’s family is seeking assistance within the Toronto art community in finding homes for the many pieces of art within the estate.

Koffler Arts, an organization that champions community initiatives, has made the decision to present this posthumous retrospective. It is especially noteworthy that an unprecedented exhibition is currently being held, providing visitors with the opportunity to take home one of her original artworks following the exhibition’s conclusion. The family due to the difficulty in marketing art regards the monetary significance in the Canadian art market as nonexistent; however curators and scholars are visually able to identify the significant importance of the art works placement and contributions to the Canadian identity. On a personal level, the artwork carries a charm that resonates with personal feelings and interpretations, permitting individuals to choose an image that will resonate within their homes, enrich their spirits, and ideally bring joy to their lives.

While pausing silently to appreciate the artworks showcased in a salon-style arrangement within the exhibition, one experiences an uncanny feeling that Goldstein is somehow present. In the midst of the admiration permeating the room, one can detect a pleasurable enjoyment alongside an intellectual appreciation for the contrasting elements within the pieces that embellish the walls. Furthermore, there is an element of empty calmness, as if the traces of her journey are indicative of having traversed a difficult path. It is this essence that generates a lingering admiration for a talent that clearly was well accomplished.

Sybil concentrated her artistic efforts on urban culture, depicting individuals at street corners engaged in their everyday activities, alongside the interiors of offices, bars, subway stations, and shopping malls, wooded areas, and neglected spaces. Numerous scenes featured mythological beings such as angels, satyrs, and spirits. Additionally, she drew inspiration from classical old masters like El Greco, Velasquez, and Rubens.

Covering surfaces of canvas, paper, or on board, her lively lines and occasionally hurried, rugged brushwork reflect an artist’s pursuit to encapsulate the fleeting movements and moments of her life, illustrated through images like Satyr Family Overlooking the Don Valley, After El Greco, Dundas Windows A&B-Birth of an Angel, Untitled-Lion Killing It’s Prey, College Street at 2:00am, Queen & Roncesvalles, Adelaide & Spadina, Spadina & Dundas, Dufferin Mall, Queen & Yonge, Joe Shuster Way, Union Station, among others, depicting various locations in downtown Toronto.

In 1981 Goldstein was one of the founding members of the ChromaZone Collective, along with Andy Fabo, Oliver Girling, Rae Johnson, Brian Burnett, Tony Wilson, and others, who organized exhibitions and events that were characterized by their support of a figurative Neo-expressionist movement gaining international recognition during their early years.

It is important to note that Goldstein was the artist responsible for the stunning Sistine Chapel-inspired artwork on the ceiling of the Cameron House located on Queen Street West. Goldstein passed away unexpectedly on July 2, 2012.