Collector's Club

Interview with Nora Juhasz - Human relationships in art

For this latest edition of l'Entretien, Art Work Circle went to meet the painter Nora Juhasz at the Fellner Contemporary gallery où
she is exhibiting works from the "Say that you love me" series until 21 October 2023. A chance to talk about social interaction and solitude.

Briefly introduce yourself:

I have been a full-time artist here in Luxembourg since 2014. For the last two years I have been working in the studios of the Association des Artistes Plasticiens du Luxembourg and I am also a full member of the Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg. I'm Hungarian and originally a pharmacist, but I learnt classical painting with a portrait painter, Gérald Dareau on the Côte d'Azur for several years. I did classical oil painting and a lot of portraits. In fact, I still get commissions for portraits.

When and how did you come into contact with art?

My great-grandfather was a painter, my grandfather was an architect but he also painted and so did his wife. I came into contact with the art world as a child.

Tell us about your artistic approach:

I examine human connections, existential situations and isolation. In my work I explore the moments when the protagonists manage to find a situation of temporary connection. I also really enjoy working with facial expressions and body postures. I examine the relationships or non-relationships between humans. I like to question the feeling of isolation and highlight it in group compositions.

On the technical side, I always paint with oil on linen, using several very thin layers, following my preparatory drawing. Linen canvases are much smoother than cotton canvases. As I attach a lot of importance to faces and expressions, it's important that the grain of the canvas doesn't alter the painting.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Really in the relationships, or lack of relationships, between human beings. In questioning our desire to be seen, loved and even admired. For this series, I was also inspired by the use of social media: how and why we seek a form of validation and admiration from and by others.

What messages/emotions do you want to convey through your work?

The subject is everyday narcissism, the representation of the self in social media. We all want to be liked and appreciated. It's not a criticism of society, it's just an observation.

This inspiration from social media comes from the fact that it's incessant - we use social media for everything, all the time. I think the desire to show off comes from a lack of self-confidence. Everyone wants to be more beautiful, more interesting to be more liked, but that ultimately leads to a false relationship maintained by likes. But I'm not trying to denounce social behaviour, everyone does it.

I did a series of works inspired by Japan. Culturally the Japanese are difficult to approach, so I also like to explore the lack of relationships, how you can approach others and make a connection. My aim is to capture human relationships.

If you had to choose one piece of work of which you are most proud, why?

I'm particularly proud of this "Say that you love me" series. My favourite piece is the one in the advent calendar, because it really represents the title of the series and the exhibition.

It also reflects the world of Christmas, with the red and green colours and the bauble in the character's hands. As Christmas is a time of reunion, it's an interesting time to observe the connections between people and the desire to please and be validated by others. It's also a work that represents anticipated pride, but one that questions our ability to satisfy expectations.

What are your future projects?

I want to explore this series further, which is currently on show until 21 October 2023 at the Fellner Contemporary gallery.

What was the first thing you did this morning? I fed my dog.

What is the subject of your work in a nutshell? People, always people.

You'd never leave home without... There aren't really any, maybe my glasses. I'm not attached to objects.

Your happy place : My family.

Your guilty pleasure : Orange marmalade.

Your favourite word : Connection is the main subject of my series.

What is your dream project? There is no revised project. It's still my current work and I'm completely immersed in it.

Interview by Art Work Circle with Hans Fellner, curator and gallery owner at Galerie Fellner Contemporary.
Photo credits: Nora Juhasz and Art work Circle