Csaba Balogh was born in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely in 1964. In spite of having been born in Romania, Balogh’s art has been influenced by Hungarian culture since its inception. His artistic education began in his teenage years, as he attended the Târgu Mureş/Marosvásárhely Secondary School for Music and Fine Arts (1979-1983). From 1985 to 1990, he studied painting at the Ion Andreescu Institute of Fine Arts (today the University of Art and Design) in Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár. The 1989 Romanian Revolution prompted Balogh to move to Hungary and settle in Budapest where he deepened his artistic know-how in the Magyar Képzőművészeti Főiskola (today the Hungarian University of Fine Arts). At this time, he became an active member of the MAMŰ Atelier, a group of Transylvanian-born artists displaced to Hungary and promoting novel art trends and practices.
Although his early works showed naturalistic tendencies, these were swiftly brushed aside in favour of expressive pieces reliant on colour and gesture. Informed by established Western European tendencies such as ‘new painting’ and ‘art brut’, Balogh’s expressiveness is internalised into landscapes, portraits and more traditional genre scenes. With his relocation to Hungary, more concept-driven works, evoking a sense of visual poetry, emerged. Most of his works from the period revolve around economic concerns and perspectives, supported by layered structures that – from time to time – employed ‘objects trouvés’. More recent works have switched from a financial focus to an ecological expression of consciousness.
Balogh currently works in Erdőkürt.
