József Burkus was born in Bükkszentlászló in 1957. The artist has pursued various academic interests, graduating from the Ferenc Földes Grammar School (1975), obtaining his qualification as a teacher of art and biology (Nyíregyháza, 1982), while also leaning how to fire enamel (in Nyírbátor). His artistic education preceded all these diplomas, as he studied under Gyula Hincz at the Free School of Zebegény when he was still a teenager (1973). With his first exhibitions would come unwanted visibility, leading to the censure of his second show by the government. Such political tensions perhaps explain Burkus’ tendency to move, travel and thrive as an artistic nomad.
Indeed, in 1990 he moved to Budapest, only to relocate two years later to Switzerland where he would enjoy considerable success and support. Eager to encourage fellow local artists, Burkus founded the gallery Barke, a space providing exhibition opportunities for up-and-coming talents, in Zurich-Hagen.
In 1996, he travelled across the Atlantic and settled in Boca Raton (Florida), before eventually moving to New York thanks to the interest of the American contemporary art market. He ultimately came full circle, moving back to Budapest for personal reasons in 1999.
Comfortable in various styles, although mainly described as a hyperrealist, Burkus’ aesthetic never relinquishes its ethereal nature. A staple of his technique is the crack, a feature rich in poetic meaning. Wrinkles, time fractures, decay; all of these elements are invoked in the artist’s delicate use of materials.
Burkus’ work has been the subject of exhibitions in every single destination he has visited or settled in, as well of two monographs: Határtalan (Borderless), by Balázs Feledy in 2001, and Rejtőzködő neovénuszok (Neo-Venuses in Hiding) by Zoltán Kálmán Fejér, in 2011.
