Árpád Forgó
lives and works in Budapest
Between Painting and Sculpture – Geometric Shaped Canvases: Árpád Forgó views his artistic practice as a series of ongoing experiments, driven by a deep curiosity about perception, space, and the body. His works strive for simplicity and formal reduction, yet are anything but static. Through geometric strategies such as reflection, rotation, and displacement, rhythmic structures emerge that oscillate between precision and playfulness. His art invites viewers to rethink their own perception of space, as well as how they appropriate and reveal it.
Geometric Systems as a Spatial Experience: Standing in the tradition of the Hungarian Neo-Avant-Garde, Forgó carries the legacy of European abstraction into the present. Rather than treating the canvas as a flat surface, he transforms it into a sculptural object, thereby giving form to the subtle tension between surface and volume. Each work emerges from a carefully defined modular system that emphasizes rhythm, balance, and spatial dialogue. The modules are reduced to their most elementary components—form and color—resulting in unique, three-dimensional constructions that preserve the material’s integrity and highlight its quiet beauty.
Forgó's “Shaped Canvases” break away from the traditional rectangular picture plane and combine geometric painting with the spatial presence of a sculpture. The folded and shaped canvases create three-dimensional structures, even though they consist solely of canvas and paint.
The Trinity series is a set of works built from three shaped canvas modules, that were also compositional elements of the earlier Diagonal Compositions set. First pieces of Trinity were created in 2019, during the Josef and Anni Albers artist residency program in Connecticut, and developed further at the residency program of Montresso Art Foundation in Marrakech in 2023. The works together visualise a playful alphabet of variations and colours. They all have the feature of asymmetry.
Currently, he is working on the Formula set, which is a synthesis of his earlier series. Formula is still an ongoing project of the artist, and its title refers to the idea that each work possess the same dimension, but each of them visualises different tactile, geometrical, colour perception concepts. In this series, Forgó merges techniques he has been working with in the past ten years, as well as the results of his experimentation with different painting materials. Formula started as a continuation of his research with the shaped canvas, but soon it turned out that the limitation of size provokes further visual solutions and opens new directions. Formula is a playful synthesis of earlier series, the rigid geometry and intense colour combinations of the shaped canvas Orthogonal Compostions (2025-2018), the translucent surfaces and dynamism of the Diagonal Compostions (2018-2022), or the delicate appearance of wood in the Konstruktivistisk series (2016-2018) are all present. Looking at the works, an exciting visual and associative story is evolving; the viewer’s personal storyboard is unfolding. An experience of colour, space, structure, geometry and rhythm.
Biography
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1972
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born in Budapest
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2008
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Can Serrat International Art Center, El Bruc, Spain (Artist-In-Residence)
The Gershwin Hotel, New York (Artist-In-Residence) |
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2011
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Visegrad Artist Residency Program, Warsaw (Artist-In-Residence)
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2013
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Druskininkai Artists' Residence, Druskininkai, Lithuania (Artist-In-Residence)
Sydney Non Objective Contemporary Art Projects, Sydney (Artist-In-Residence) |
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2015
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Hungarian Academy in Rome (Artist-In-Residence)
Vermont Studio Center, VT (Artist-In-Residence) |
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2016
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The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation, New Berlin, NY (Artist-In-Residence)
Rómer Flóris Museum of Art and History, Győr, Hungary (Artist-In-Residence) Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder, Trondheim (Artist-In-Residence) |
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2017
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Rómer Flóris Museum of Art and History, Győr, Hungary (Artist-In-Residence)
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2018
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The Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai (Artist-In-Residence)
Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia (Artist-In-Residence) |
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2019
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The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT (Artist-In-Residence)
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2019-20
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The Pollock-Krasner Foundation grantee, New York |
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2023
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Jardin Rouge, Montresso Art Foundation, Marrakesh, Morocco |
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2025
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CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain |
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2026
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The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Carraig-na-gCat, Ireland (Artist-In-Residence) |
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
| 2026 | Schlieder Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, DE (S) Layers of Perception (with Hanna Kaminski), Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, DE (S) |
| 2025 | Zigzag, Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA (S) What you see is what you get but not what you think, Schlieder Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, DE (G) Colour and Form / Unique and Edition, Kunstverein Gelsenkirchen, DE (G) |
| 2024 | Structure Texture Volume (with Sergio Femar), Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, DE (S) Objective Case, Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center Brussels, Belgium (S) Up to a Point, Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre, Klaipeda, Lithuania (S) Bifocal (with Anikó Robitz), Nonsofia Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (S) Debut :: Inaugural Open, &Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (G) unbunt // achromatic, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, DE (G) Abstract Horizons, Molnár Ani Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (G) Geometry NOW, Vasarely Museum, Budapest, Hungary (G) |
| 2023 | Dialogue – Shaped Colours (with Moritz Moll), Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, DE (S) Schlieder Contemporary, Frankfurt am Main, DE (S) Galerie 21.06, Ravensburg , DE (S) Formula, Galeria Milano, Warschau, Poland (S) Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, UK (G) focus: hungary, Nonsofia Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (G) |
| 2022 | Hybridart Space, Budapest (S) Paks Art Gallery, Paks, Hungary (S) Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (G) Contraction & Release, AiS Gallery, Shibukawa, Japan (G) Rinko-Kaku Tea House Project 2021, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan (G) |
| 2021 | ENA Viewing Space, Budapest (S) Saturation Point, London (S) Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (G) AiS Gallery, Shibukawa, Japan (G) Rinko-kaku Tea House Project, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan (G) Hybridart Space, Budapest (G) |
| 2020 | Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, Texas (S) Saturation Point, London (S) Proto Gomez Gallery, New york City (G) AiS Gallery, Shibukawa, Japan (G) Rinko-kaku Tea House Project, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan (G) Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (G) ENA Viewing Space, Budapest (S) |
| 2019 | Galeria Milano, Warsaw (S) Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch, Germany (G) Ludwig Museum, Budapest (G) Vasarely Museum, Budapest (G) Galeria Milano, Warschau (G) National Centre of Contemporary Arts, Minsk (G) |
| 2018 | Viltin Gallery, Budapest (S) Rómer Flóris Museum of Art and History, Györ, Hungary (S) Rómer Flóris Museum of Art and History, Györ, Hungary (G) International Symposium, Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia (G) Viltin Gallery, Budapest (G) |
| 2017 | Galeria Milano, Warsaw (S) Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, Texas (S) raum2810, Bonn (G) FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture, Budapest (G) Rómer Flóris Museum of Art and History, Györ, Hungary (G) Das Esszimmer goes Weltraum, Basel (G) The Sam and Adele Golden Gallery, New Berlin, NY (G) Latarka Gallery, Budapest (G) |
| 2016 | Platán Gallery, Budapest (S) BABEL Art Space, Trondheim (S) B55 Gallery, Budapest (G) Viltin Gallery, Budapest (G) |
| 2015 | Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, Texas (S) Budapest Project Gallery, Budapest (G) Spazi Aperti XIIIa Edizione 2015, Accademia di Romania, Rome (G) Flux Gallery, Budapest (G) |
| 2014 | Hungarian Cultural Institute, Warsaw (S) Galeria Milano, Warschau (S) Saatchi Art, Griffin Gallery, London (G) |
| 2013 | Flux Gallery, Budapest (S) SNO, Sydney (G) |
| 2011 | Hungarian Cultural Institute, Warsaw (S) |
| 2010 | Hungarian Cultural Center, Brussels (S) Gallery Suez, The Hague (S) Drongengoedhoeve, Knesselare, Belgium (G) 2nd International Biennial of Painters and Sculptors, Milesi Palace, Split (G) |
| 2009 | Galerija Laterna, Crnomelj, Slowenia (S) University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Honolulu, HI (G) Loudoun House, Lexington, KY (G) |
| 2008 | The Geshwin Hotel Gallery, New York, NY (S) The FUEL Collection, Philadelphia, PA (G) West Tampa Center for the Arts, Tampa, FL (G) Premio Profilo d’Arte 2008, Museo della Permanente, Milan (G) |
| 2006 | Merlin, Budapest (S) |
| 2005 | Retorta Gallery, Budapest (S) |
Works (click to enlarge)
