laughing freedom

Péter Döme (1972, Zirc, Hungary) As I never studied drawing or painting, the greatest impact on me and on my artistic interest was my grandfather. Once he was drawing in the garden, and when I asked him about it, he told me it was a lion, and if I watched carefully I could also see it on the wall. I went back day after day, looking for the lion. At one point, he told me, that I could only find it, at a certain time of the day and that I’d have to learn to see behind the shapes and to focus more on the lights and shades. Although I was only 11 years old at that time, I consider this as my first and most important lesson as an artist. I started to paint in 1995 ("13 Head"), and one year later, in 1996, I got my first order as a painter. In 2008 I started to work with oil and together with this, I started to develop new techniques and started to get closer to photorealistic painting. Since then, I have had a few joint exhibitions: 2008. XX. Amateur Artium Balatonalmádi joint collective exhibition in Balatonalmadi, Hungary 2009. ‘Feelings and Lights’ joint exhibition with Zsanett Dencs in Székesfehérvár, Hungary 2010. First ‘Picture on the wall’ joint collective exhibition in Budapest , Hungary Gardener 29 Gallery 2010. ‘Light Show’ joint exhibition with Zsanett Dencs in Veszprém , Hungary 2010. ‘Inner Journey’ joint exhibition with Zsanett Dencs in Várpalota, Hungary 2013. 'Szín Tér' joint exhibition with Erdész Erika, Andrelli - Pap János györgy in Budapest, Hungary Gardener 29 Gallery 2013. 'Balance' joint collective exhibition with efZámbó István, Ferenczi Judit, Ferencz J. Réka, Gál Magdolna, Horváth Tamás István, Kecskeméti Dóra, Merczel Péter, Olasz Attila, Révész Ákos, Szelthafner Lilla, Szük Norbert, Tör? Irén, Végh Lajos és Zétényi János in Budapest, Hungary Gardener Gallery. 2014. I. Veszprem Magic Festival Joint collective exhibition in Veszprem, Hungary Jesuit Church I mainly use photos as a base for my projects, but often combined with others, or edited by myself. Although these preparations are an important part of my work, and my vision is slowly taking shape, the final image is born during the painting. Some of the paintings have a simple composition; some are chaotic with multiple images overlapping each other. Besides painting, I work as a DJ, and am also the tour manager of a famous Hungarian music band called Vad Fruttik. Occasionally, I also enjoy event planning, graphic designs, and compose music for my band (Easylifenatural ), short films and advertisements. This background might lead to the fact that I am especially inspired by music, nature, street art, movies, fashion and pop culture. In my recent paintings, my work has been driven by the effects of light and shade, optical illusions, with several pieces portraying a woman in the centre. My current work is close to Photorealism, but during the process of painting, the object at some point, might became distorted or even transparent. At the moment I am working on a new series of 6-8 paintings, which is planned to be finished and presented during spring 2017.