Artist George Bartko: “Island Portraits: The Men”

Sept. 19 – October 25 Wilson Art Gallery

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 19th, 3:30-5:30pm.

Meet world-renowned Hungarian-born artist George Bartko on September 19th who will discuss his work, which he conceived not as a series of individual, separate records, but as a unified piece with a cumulative effect. 

George Bartko was born in Hungary and now spends half the year on the island of Vinalhaven, off the coast of Maine, and his winters in Budapest, where he keeps an apartment and art studio.

As a teenager he apprenticed for three years to the Hungarian painter Lajos Saabo before coming to the United States in 1956. He earned a BFA in painting and printmaking at the University of Illinois, Urbana, and his MFA in painting and printmaking at the University of Florida, Gainsville. He went on to teach painting, drawing and lithography at St. Louis Community College in Missouri.

He says of his intention: “I ask from a viewer an attention span longer than required to identify the contents of a painting. I invite the viewer to explore the way I resolve the delights of appearances.”