Pure Beauty by Tibor Simon-Mazula
A labor of love spanning the past decade; Tibor Simon-Mazula’s new book Pure Beauty pays tribute to his dynamic career.
“I believe many people regardless [of] their education or economical situation [are] really sensitive for paintings.”
Tibor Simon-Mazula in his studio. Photo copyright by Peter Virth
When the viewer is allowed the familiar glimpse into a domestic scene in visual arts, it is easily recognizable. A bedroom or bathroom or kitchen is quick to be identified. The geographic location is hardly something considered. However, Hungarian born artist Tibor Simon-Mazula deliberates on the ideas of every day spaces into every day moments collected from around the world, including Europe, the Arab Peninsula, and California.
The book features over seventy paintings and eight drawings and is divided into multiple parts, categorizing his work into themed series. There is also a collection of personal photographs featuring Simon-Mazula’s wife, the artist, and their travels. Essays composed by the contributors of the book ranging from singers to psychologists took over fourteen months to curate and assemble.
Tibor Simon-Mazula, Daybreak, 2018, Oil on canvas
It was considered a labor of love for Simon-Mazula in order to make his art accessible to people everywhere, no matter their location or background. The essays are not written to a specific or traditional audience, such as historians or academics, but focus on the details of individual pieces and their emotive qualities for each writer. In one of the essays, Simon-Mazula explains how his artistic process is an honest act that protects him from the outside world as a refuge. This becomes apparent in the intimate peace of his interior world — a cup of coffee, a bathtub, and his wife— among the memories, either nostalgic or content.
Tibor Simon Mazula, Combing_no2, 2014, Oil on canvas
The artist’s relationship with each tableau permeates through his close cut perspectives and raw use of texture. He is repeatedly described as a lover throughout the book, and that love certainly comes through in the pieces shown. The emotions are implemented through the build up of paints and colors throughout the creating process.
Despite this, the immediate familiarity of the scenes allows the viewer to share in the displayed vulnerability and reflect upon it. Simon-Mazula’s willingness to share this comfort through familiarity is an integral part of the purpose of this book. When asked, he explained “I believe many people regardless [of] their education or economical situation [are] really sensitive for paintings.” Just as we all have our own internal lives wherever and however we may exist in the world, we are able to relate to others like it. After seeing his work and reading other’s connections to it, it summons the question of how we go back and share our own intimacies with the outside world.
Tibor Simon Mazula, Combing_no1, 2014, Oil on canvas
Pure beauty is published by Sfumato Művészeti Társaság (Sfumato Art Association), Hungary Pages:160, bilingual English and Hungarian.
Texts by: Jenny E. Balisle, Artist, curator, advocate, writer, lecturer, and instructor at the Academy of Art University and UC Berkeley Extension in San Francisco, California, USA / Jack Hirschman, Painter and emeritus Poet Laureate of San Francisco, California, USA / Zoltán Kőváry PhD, Clinical psychologist, literatteur & linguist, associate professor ELTE University, Budapest, H / Carolyn Meyer Director at Academy of Art University, California, USA / Drew Price, Artist, California, USA / David Riffert, Art-writer, Northern California, USA / Krisztián Szűcs Singer, composer and musician, Budapest, H / Ditta Tóth, Art critic, Budapest, H / Shawn Vales, Artist, California, USA / Tibor Simon-Mazula, Artist Translations by: Katherine Chapman, Agneta Falk Hirschman, Gabriella Ható, Áron Nagy, István Pion, Tibor Simon-Mazula, Borbála Tóth-Zsiga
ISBN 978-615-00-5226-7 Available online