Péter Szarka was born in Kőszeg, in 1964. He studied painting at the Magyar Képzőművészeti Főiskola (today the Hungarian University of Fine Arts) in Budapest (1985-1989), undertaking a postgraduate degree at the same institution (1989-1992). His precocious talent was rewarded with two scholarships: a Derkovits Scholarship (1994-1997) and a Frankfurt City Residency Scholarship (1997). As a student, Szarka became a founding member of the Budapest-based artist collective Újlak Group (1990-1995). Its members were devoted to the reinvention of artistic practices, which led Szarka to pursue this trailblazing approach throughout his career.
Inherently experimental, Szarka embraced digital graphic creation and 3D modelling towards the end of the 1990s, featuring seriality, glitches and other staples of computer trash art, anticipating the explosion of digital art in the following decade. Nevertheless, in spite of this pioneering work, technology is merely a means and not the end of Szarka’s work. This explains why, 20 years later, when the following generation caught up with his practice, he had already moved on to novel depictions of his distorted dystopian imaginary.
A return to painterly gestures, found plastic objects and the implementation of sonic elements through installations marked this transition, this refusal to be part of the fray. Ultimately, Szarka uses anachronistic means to paint a future he has always pursued through art.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Fiatal Művészek Klubja, Budapest (1987); Bercsényi Klub, Budapest (1989); Újlak mozi, Budapest (1990); Tűzoltó u. 72, Budapest (1994); Liget Galéria, Budapest (1995); Tűzoltó u. 72, Budapest (1995); Stúdió Galéria, Budapest (1995); Liget Galéria, Budapest (1996); Self Megamix, Szombathelyi Képtár, Szombathely (2001); Képek a készletből, Kortárs Művészeti Intézet, Dunaújváros (2002); Irokéz Galéria, Szombathely (2003); acb Galéria, Budapest (2003); Puha Bomba, Műcsarnok, Budapest (2003); Csütörtök 13, acb Galéria, Budapest (2005).
Szarka won first prize at the Contemporary Hungarian Video Installation Exhibition in 1991.
