About
Contemporary artist, painter, living and creating in Ostrava. Attila Vencel also helps novice artists to awaken their own natural talents as lecturer and mentor.
Born, July 14th, 1972, on the Eastern Slovak Plain, Attila is the oldest of three sons, to parents of Hungarian nationality. His early childhood was spent in the small village of Szolnocska, a place that would later become an inspiration for the nature that he shares in his depictions.
It was following a family relocation to the town of Ve?ké Kapušany in the Michalovce district, that his talents in art, music, and poetry manifested themselves.
Due to communist constraints of the time, Attila was unable to further his fine art studies, undeterred, he decided to study drawing at the technical school in Snina, Prešov region (which coincidentally, is not far from Andy Warhol's birthplace). Technical drawing and descriptive geometry enriched him with the development of spatial vision, imagination and the foundation of perspective; skills which were to be later used in his paintings.
These four years, surrounded by the unspoiled nature of the Laborecká Highlands, gave Attila new passions in the school's cultural and musical activities - participating in local competitions of Ruthenian Folk Song, and, also as a self-taught guitarist, composing his first songs.
In 1990 Atilla was called up for the 18-month basic national military service in Nepolise, near Hradec Králové, where he served as a commissary and company scribe. He garnered quite a following among his fellow soldiers who frequently wanted to trade for his figurative nude drawings.
Following his military service, he moved to Bohemia, where he settled for three and a half years working in a goldsmith's workshop creating handmade jewelry. At the same time, his musical projects - songwriter, composer, and performer for the pop group ‘V.I.P’ - were also gaining momentum, and, in 1999, resulted in a signing with Warner Music in what was a very large collaboration at the time for the Czech Republic.
In 2002, he became co-owner and operator of ‘Sherlock’s Pub’ on the legendary Stodolní Street in Ostrava - marking the beginning of his bohemian and artistic life - organising music projects, concerts, agency activities, promotion and advertising as well as meeting with diverse artists from the worlds of music, theatre, fine arts and fashion. This time was much more than just about parties, for Atilla, it was a chance to experience and cultivate political, cultural and philosophical interests. This new world view gave Atilla a growing creative urge which found its answer during a chance meeting with the renowned Ostrava painter Dali Figely, who gave impetus to Atilla’s passion for fine art.
As a self-taught artist, Attila Vencel's inspiration is based on his love for landscapes and nature, which he has been closely associated with since his youth. He sensitively perceives its delicate balance, which he tries to find and share in his life, at work, in relation to people and the environment. It feels like a never-ending process, a journey of life and an effort to find a higher and higher level of harmony.
He found great inspiration in the works of Impressionists of the 19th century, such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas. Representatives of the so-called "California Impressionism" were, for example, William Keith, Benjamin Chambers Brown, Selden Connor Gile.
Czech painters Antonín Slaví?ek, Václav Radimský, František Kaván, Julius Ma?ák and Augustin Mervart.
He also draws on works by Russian painters such as Korovin, Polen, Ayvazovsky, Levitan, Repin, and Shishkin.
His attitude to painting and painting technique was greatly influenced by Russian painter Igor Sakharov. After many years of admiration, in 2017, Atilla was fortunate to meet one of his role models while in Moscow. They subsequently spent several days painting together in the beautiful setting, of Pereslavl-Zalessky, a town on the shores of Lake Pleschev.
He devotes himself mainly to oil painting. The dominant themes of his paintings are landscape, nature, and flowers. In his abstract work, he likes to work with geometric shapes, color surfaces, and structures. Atilla enjoys employing a variety of techniques: Painting with fingers, brush, cloth, and spatula, as well as alternatively combining the oil with acrylic paints.
His work moves between impressionist and realistic paintings. It is a kind of "crossover" of various influences and inspirations from the fields of fine art, music, life philosophy and relationship to nature.
Attila Vencel