Personal Mythologies
Klára Lakatos
Outsider Art Fair New York, Booth C14
February 27 - March 2, 2025
checklist of works
About
Klara Lakatos is a Hungarian painter of Romani origin. She considers the world as a rhythmic variation of beautiful and ugly forces. The vibration of these two opposing energies intermingles in her images. Her creatures, dressed up with specific stylistic features, express the vulnerability and interdependence of humans.
Consciously and unconsciously, we all have a deep longing to understand our place in the world and understand ourselves, and we construct narratives to that end. These stories are powerful and captivating, and in spite of their universal frameworks, they are very personal. Personal myths develop and evolve from our experiences, an open story, constantly changing, updated by influences, not something unreal.
“I suspected that myth had a meaning which I was sure to miss if I lived outside it in the haze of my own speculations. I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: ”What is the myth you are living?” I found no answer to this question, and had to admit that I was not living with a myth, or even in a myth, but rather in an uncertain cloud of theoretical possibilities which I was beginning to regard with increasing distrust. I did not know that I was living a myth, and even if I had known it, I would not have known what sort of myth was ordering my life without my knowledge. So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know “my” myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks…”
– C. G. Jung
Klára's expressive, often surreal works straddle the figurative and non-figurative border. Her characters are always embedded in a group, they are never alone, yet feel isolated. She uses minimal perspective. Beasts and creatures are almost always lurking among her human characters, the outlets of her inner forces and social struggle. Her personal symbols and rich colors have a strong history and meaning rooted in her culture.
Artist
Klára R. Lakatos (b. 1968) is a Hungarian painter, illustrator and graphic designer of Romani origin.
She spent her childhood years in Tyukod, located near the Ukrainian and Romanian borders. After graduating from primary school, she went to Budapest to study at a commercial vocational high school. After completing this she took the matriculation exam at the Ervin Szabó High School, and then obtained a degree in art management from the University of Pécs. She started drawing in 1996. Her work was greatly influenced by the pictures of Károly Bari, Magda Szécsi and David Beery. Her first solo exhibition was at the Cirkó Gejzir movie theater. She has been an exhibiting artist since 1999.
Her visual arts activity was discovered by the art historian István Kerékgyártó and found her works worthy of exhibitions. Klara often accompanied her ex-partner, the poet Zsolt Csanya Szolnoki, to the Tállyai Central European Art Center, and it was here that she started drawing her first graphics. In addition to illustrating Zsolt Csanya's books, she wrote her own bilingual storybook, “Shu pe jag Papu!” (Put it on the fire, grandpa!). Her second storybook, “Mezõálom” (Field Dream) was published in 2024. Her works have been published in several magazines, including Élet és Irodalom, Amaro Drom, Kethano Drom, Lungo Drom, and since 2009 in the Igaz Szó.
Klára Lakatos has been engaged in Gypsy language education, the organization of folklore clubs and numerous public activities for decades. As a Roma mentor, she was a workshop leader. She paints and teaches with great love and joy among Roma and non-Roma children.