How can you define ‘Instinct for Life’ comically? Hungarian graphic artist Édua Szues believes that anybody who is admitted in hospital with broken bones and the whole body wrapped in bandage still has the energy to throw love signals to the nurse, is the one who is always in high spirit.
In her recent exhibition ‘Life is Like That’ at the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, the cartoonist and also an illustrator has showcased a collection of some interesting caricatures that easily bring a smile to your face.
“In our rushing days full of challenges, it is a great value if someone is able to stop us and in this fleeting silence she can bring smiles to our face,” says Édua.
“The real caricaturist is a creator who can work this miracle by putting a distorting mirror in front of us that reflects our heart and mind, so that in the picture seen there we can recognise ourselves and are able to smile at ourselves.
Caricatures putting human frailty in the pillory are old traditions, nevertheless, I believe it to be a characteristic genre of the 20th century as open-hearted laugh and smile has been mostly needed then and now,” she says.
Édua’s drawing skills make her one of the mature artists of her country.
Her expertise is based on her belief in humanity, life’s realities and one’s ability to laugh at oneself.
Her aspects for creating something evocative out of humorous situations are brilliant.
Her deep empathy with human nature and frailties and her tempered and sensitive reaction to those makes it possible for everyone to have the same personal reaction.
The caricaturists, works on the concept of the unity of image and notion. The line is a constructing element of the picture for her.
Besides possessing the beauty of the details, it has got a characterising strength in the whole of the composition by turning her experiences of life into a picture, and transmitting them through visual means.
In Édua’s caricatures there is never a common humour but the sublime, mild-and-bitter, scraping mood.
According to her, independent piece of artwork depends upon the greatness of the subject, the demands of graphics, the certainty of composition and the competence in drawing.
The exhibition will be on view till May 30 at the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre from 10 am to 4 pm (on weekends only).