Andrea Fajgerné Dudás statement
In my art, I deal with the marginal issues of female existance. I invest myself in playing women’s traditional roles, I create performances and paintings while I am knocking down (destroying) the patriarchal roles of our society with all my choices of provokative and embarassingly intimate matters and taboo topics. I declare myself a woman artist and a feminist artist who take on traditional female roles and voices taboo topics such as infertility and artificial insemination.So after my marriage, according to the traditional Hungarian naming conventions, I took my husband’s name as a radical artistic gesture (Mrs. Fajger, in which the suffix -né denotes belonging to a man), which I have used as an artist’s name ever since. I took my husband's name according to traditional Hungarian custom, which I interpret both as belonging to a man and an artistic statement. In 2009, when I bought Frances Borzello’s book entitled Femmes au Miroir in Paris, I decided that women painters and forgotten female artists would be given a prominent role in my art. To this end, I constantly reinterpret them, incorporate their work into my practice, and my goal is to make them part of our collective memory. Unfortunately, in Hungary, few books have been published about women painters, and there are hardly any books about women painters in universities. Their stories are not known. I would like to make up for this. In my art, I was inspired by Hélène Cixous’s writings on female language and speech, which incited her to find her female voice. I deal with the marginal issues of female existence. Women need to be invisible to do the creative work necessary for their career and fulfillment. As a white, middle-class woman from Central-Eastern Europe, I am aware of my situation, my life is underdeveloped compared to the West, and nonetheless, it is happy and calm for third-world countries. I am in an ‘in between’ situation like my painting is situated between figurativity and abstraction. In today’s Hungary, there is a national- conservative concept according to which a woman’s place is at home, in the family, in the kitchen, and in the household with the children. In conclusion, I attempt to pursue the career of a professional artist in which I can stay true to myself while being a wife and a mother of two and try to reconcile the career-parenting-household triad. I aspire to maintain equal relationships and do my best not to become oppressive.
EDUCATION
2006-2011 Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest, Master of Painting, HU
2010 Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden, Malerei, GE
2013-2017 The Doctoral Programme of Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest, HU
2023 completed a DLA ( Doctor of Liberal Art) doctoral degree
AWARDS, RESIDENCIES
2009. Erasmus Prize-Dresden, HU and GE
2010. Ari Kupsus Art and Society Prize, HU
2011. Best of Diplom, HU
2012, 2016, 2017, 2021 NKA Art Prize, HU
2013. Artist in residence, quartier21, Museum Quartier, Vienna, Erste Foundation, AT
2015. Gyöngyös City Art Award, HU
2016 Wonder Women Prize, Gender Conference, Szeged, HU
2018 Budapest Gallery artist in residence, Wien, Alte Schmiede Kunstverein, AT
2018 Hungary Emerging, HU and USA
2021 STRABAG artaward Jury Preselection AT
2022 Catalist Prize, GODOT of Contemporary Art, HU
2023 STRABAG artaward Jury Preselection AT
MEMBERSHIPS
From 2009 Studio of Young Artists’ Association
From 2011 Association of Hungarian Artists
From 2021 Secondary Archive
COLLECTIONS
2010 Ari Kupsus Art Collection
2013 K&H „művészet egy jobb, teljesebb világért” Contemporary Art Collection
2013 The Art Collection of Erste Foundation
2021 The Collection of Savaria Museum, Art Gallery of Szombathely
2023 The Collection of Kiscelli Museum
From 2010 Works in Private Collections in Austria, Hungary and Finnland
EXHIBITIONS
2023
Similar stories, The Space Gallery, Budapest, HU
2022
Encounters/Találkozások, Godot Gallery, Budapest, HU
Housewife of Catalyst, Godot Institute of Contemporary Art, Budapest, HU
WHATEVER U DO – I LOVE IT, Galerie Michaela Stock,Vienna, AT
My Obvious Presence, Deak Erika Gallery, Budapest, HU
Art Market Budapest, HU
Women Flat, Easttopics Gallery, Budapet, HU
2021
NO FOMO, Godot Gallery. Budapest, HU
AGATHA, WERK, Budapest, HU
LET’S EAT-CAPAZINE, CAPA Center, Budapest, HU
Eurocity 172, Runde Ecke, riesa efau, Dresden, GE
2020
fem.art.2.0, FotoFluss, Wolkersdorf, AT
Chamomile, Liget Gallery, Budapest, HU
2019
Weib sein, Liget Gallery, Budapest, HU
My world, my dreams..., FERi Gallery, Budapest, HU
Budapest Bizarre, Loft B111, Budapest
18. Dana performansa „artistry”, performance festival, Gradski muzej Varazdin, Varazdin, CR
2018
Frida Kahlo, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, HU
Red Dot Miami, Hungary Emerging booth, Miami, USA
Hungary Emerging exhibition, Lincoln Center, New York, USA
Art Capital Paris, Grand Palace, Paris, FR
Hungary Emerging exhibition, Hungarian Consulate, New York, USA
Common Jam 5., 2B Gallery, Budapest, HU
In the name of..., performansz, ICA-D, Dunaújváros, HU
BODY, SPIRIT, REVOLT, İzmir Mimarlık Merkezi, Izmir, TU
Santopalato Studio Gallery, Budapest, HU
Santopalato, Korean Cultural Center, Budapest, HU
Künstlerküche, Labor Gallery, Budapest
2017
Galaktotrophusa, Liget Gallery, Budapest, HU
Frida Fiestas 2., Csikász Gallery, Veszprém, HU
Frida Fiestas, Szombathely Art Gallery, Szombathely, HU
2016
Come to my bosom, Ericsson Gallery, Budapest, HU
DADA100, Barcsay Gallery, Budapest, HU
Wasted time the central exhibition of Art Capital, Artmill, Szentendre, HU
NőttőNő, 15. Nagy Kunszt, Miskolci Gallery, Miskolc, HU
PHoto/Modell, Barcsay Gallery, Budapest, HU
2015
Preservation of Youth, Tranzit Art Cafe, Budapest, HU
sadudaerdna, Center of Contemporary Art, Budapest, HU
Common Jam III. , Art9 Gallery, Budapest, HU
Unsettled affairs of women, ICA-D , Dunaújváros, HU
Comfort, Women’s body policies/Komfort, női testpolitikák, Ferencvárosi Pincegaléria, Budapest, HU
Art Unanchored festival 2015, Wien-Bratislava, AT
Invisible work, Ericsson Gallery, Budapest, HU
Eat Art master class I.-II., OFF Biennale, Budapest, HU
2014
Patience is a virtue, acb Gallery, Budapest, HU
Announcement?, Liget Gallery, Budapest, HU
Panska Skórka, Platán Gallery, Budapest, HU
2013
Hi’m Graces, ART9 Gallery, Budapest, HU
Eat-art performances in Museum Quartier, MQ21, Vienna, AT
Error and co., Kortárs Magyar Galéria, Dunaszerdahely
Home Sweet Home, Gallery of Miskolc, Miskolc, HU
2011
Unglaublich hasslich, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden, GE