A FAMILY OF BIRDS IN VARIOUS SIZES

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE FLOCK. INDIVIDUAL PICTURES AND INFORMATION BELOW

BIRD
bronze
10 in. tall
edition of 10
$3,500

BIRD
bronze
4 in. tall
edition of 50
$350

also available in a 5 in. tall sculpture, edition of 50, $500
and the 3.25 in. sculpture $100

LITTLE DEVIL (MALE AND FEMALE)
bronze
male is 3.25 in. tall and female is 2.75 in. tall (male is SOLD)
$100 each

BIRDHEAD WOMAN
bronze
edition of 25
6 in. tall
$500

ARTIST STATEMENT

I have been a self-employed sculptor since graduating from the University of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary in 1984. I received a teacher's degree with honors in Sculpture, Drawing, History of Art, and Artistic Anatomy Training at the school consisted of creating life-size clay statues after living model, making plaster and rubber moulds and casting bronze sculptures up to 20 kg (50 lb). In my graduate year I created a bronze bust that is now in the collection of the National Gallery in Budapest .

Between 1984 and 1987 my sculptures were exhibited in Budapest, Munich, Moscow and Rome. The Ministry of Culture acquired and placed my artworks in different provincial museums around Hungary . During the same time I also traveled across northern Italy for three months on a Rome Fellowship and visited art-foundries, marble quarries and museums for inspiration.

In the history of European Art the naked human figure became customary since the Greco-Roman era. Nude sculptures are in public parks, on the façade of civic buildings, in museums; even the Pope's chapel is full with painted naked men and women. When I was an art-student, humanism and the human body were the basis of the training from high school to university, and my figures are a part of this tradition; round women, determined warriors, as well as different animals. Miro, Picasso, and Moore were my favorite artists.

In 1988 I come to Canada with my wife Anna Torma, and two sons, Balint and David. We settled in Hamilton , Ontario . At the time Ted Pietrzak was the director of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and he introduced me to a local philanthropist Irving Zucker. Mr. Zucker had already donated an entire sculpture garden to the city including works by important artists like Barbara Hepworth, Lyn Chadwick and Sorel Etrog. Until the end of his life in 2002, Mr. Zucker purchased numerous large, 100-200 cm (3 -7 ft) sculptures. These works were displayed both indoors and outdoors as part of his private collection.

Mr. Zucker became my first major Canadian patron and allowed me to make works that are on the scale of public sculpture.

In 1999 the CBC Television visited my studio and filmed my works. The project was part of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki , and was aired all over the world. I received feedback from many places including Switzerland and Australia .

In 2002 I moved to Baie Verte with Anna. The next year the New Brunswick Arts Board awarded me a Creation Grant, thus I was able to cast in bronze an entire series of my warrior figures. I have exhibited in several public and private galleries in New Brunswick , Nova Scotia and Ontario and also maintained a good connection with the Hungarian art-world, continuing to have many solo and group exhibitions there over the years. My latest exhibitions were in New York and London , and I have ones scheduled later this year in Berlin and Budapest .

Istvan Zsako, 2009

BIG FACE (WHITE)
bronze
4 in. tall
edition of 50
$300

COUPLE
bronze
edition of 25
6 in. tall
$300

SUN AND MOON
bronze
edition of 15
9.75 in. tall
$850

WINGED BULL
bronze
3.5 in.
$100

BULL
bronze
3.5 in. tall
edition of 50
$200

SUNMAN
bronze
6 in. tall
edition of 50
$500

LITTLE WOMAN
bronze
5 in. tall
$100

WINGED CREATURE
bronze
2.5 in. tall
$100

WOMAN WITH BIRD
bronze
17.75 in. tall
edition 3/7
$1,150

LOVEBIRDS
bronze
33 in. tall
edition 4/7
$11,700

also available:
LOVEBIRDS
bronze
13 in. tall
edition 5/10
$1,150

Born in Budapest , Hungary , Istvan Zsako studied art at the Hungarian School of Fine Arts, Budapest (1968-1972) and sculpture at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest (1979-1984). In 1987 he won the Scholarship of Rome, affording him the chance to travel in Italy and take inspiration from countless ancient statues.

In his over twenty years of professional practice his bronze sculptures have been exhibited throughout Europe and Canada and are part of important public and private collections. His work has been reviewed in international art magazines, as well as being featured in an episode of CBC television's Nature of Things with David Suzuki. He has received numerous grants and awards in Europe and Canada, most recently the New Brunswick Art Board's project grant. He lives in Baie Verte, NB.

Istvan Zsako casts his surrealistic, playful figures from bronze, first forming small figures from wax, then making enlargement in plaster. His largest bronze sculpture to date is 6'7'' tall. He patinates and paints them sometimes with enamel paint to give an individual finish to each piece. He also works with alabaster, embellished with lead inserts and gold leaf. Istvan Zsako's figures are modern time idols, playful variations of freedom, sexuality, love, masculinity and femininity. They are significant works of contemporary Hungarian sculpture.