Edgar Balogh

Edgar Balogh was born in the wild North of Maramures, in Sighet. A young 34 yo teacher, graduated the University of Art and Design Cluj, Romania. In a neorealist style, his artwork comes from deep inside, filtered through infinite layers of subconscious. A classic artist with strange and troubling visions.

Edgar Balogh produces paintings that make one’s flesh creep, in a dark somewhere between Dr. Seuss and Jake & Dinos Chapman’s melted dollflesh mannequins.

Folds of flesh are convincingly modelled into bodies resembling and re-assembling trans-species hybrids, in a kind of experimental cloning. Long-legged, insectile nanohumanoids whip their lizard-like tails into spiralling vortexes of flesh. One nightmarish image contrasts plumped fingerprint whirls into a disturbing grin wrapped around the central omphalos of a Cyclops’ eye. Perhaps due to the engorged penile pseudopodium that lies beneath.

The paintings taunt us in that abject territory made familiar by the American performance artist Paul McCarthy. The vuvuzela, a comical instrument made of cheap plastic is held and played whilst a mute inhuman face with holes for eyes and mouth stares out at us. Are they part of the same body, simultaneously playing out their dumb show whilst watching for our reaction?

"Exbarbie..XII" is a close up of a face of indeterminate age or gender. Its wrinkles indicate someone advanced in years but the otherwise elastic quality of the skin suggests the face of an especially miserable foetus. The purplish growth on the forehead, together with the supernumerary nipple or navel, indexes science fiction. Is the need to shut out or contain pain the reason these eyes close against the world voluntarily? Or is it because they cannot or will not open to return our gaze? Any clues we might rely upon by way of human eye contact are denied. These portraits beg the question: are we actually staring into the face of the inhuman?

"Les toiles et les dessins de E. Balogh sont impressionnant à première vue. Puis progressivement, le peintre nous fait entrer dans son univers psychologique. Et, alors on est beaucoup plus sensible à l'extraordinaire maîtrise de la peinture et du graphisme. J'ai acquis deux toiles et quelques dessins; ce sont des pièces importantes pour ne pas dire essentielles de notre collections."

Jean-Louis C.
(Suisse)

"I'm very pleased with the painting. It looks outstanding in person and you can really see all the skill and detail that's gone into making the painting. Looking forward to seeing more of Edgar's work in the future!

Alex L.
(Great Britain)

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 8

16" x 12" (40 cm x 30 cm)
oil on limewood panel
unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 7

11" x 8" (30 cm x 20 cm)
oil on oak panel
unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 6

16" x 12" (40 cm x 30 cm)
oil on limewood panel
unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 5

16" x 12" (40 cm x 30 cm)
oil on limewood panel
unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 4

16" x 12" (40 cm x 30 cm)
oil on limewood panel
unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 3

11" x 8" (29 cm x 21 cm)
oil on oak panel
unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 2

28" x 20" (70 cm x 50 cm) oil on canvas, 2012

unframed

Edgar Balogh - "BAROQUE" Series / BAROQUE 1

28" x 20" (70 cm x 50 cm) oil on canvas, 2012

unframed

SOLD, Great Britain

XXXVI Edgar Balogh - "Exbarbie & Flesh Tones" Series

28" x 20" (70 cm x 50 cm) oil on linen, 2012

unframed

SOLD

XXXV Edgar Balogh - "Exbarbie & Flesh Tones" Series

23" x 15" (60 cm x 39 cm) oil on limewood panel, 2012

unframed

XXXIV Edgar Balogh - "Exbarbie & Flesh Tones" Series