Miklós Sebek

MIKLÓS SEBEK

Sculptor

Miklós Sebek was born in Sóskut, Hungary, in 1941. He studied architecture and sculpture in Budapest. In 1969 he left his country for Italy, where he spent 7 months. The following year in 1970, he emigrated to the USA. Here he studied at Montclair State College in New Jersey and received a degree in Fine Arts.

Since 1976, when he became a full-time artist, he has been exhibiting widely, including the New York National Academy, National Arts Club, Morris-, Bergen- and Monmouth Museum, Art Expo, AT&T, Nabisco etc. and several galleries. He received “Medal of Honor” Awards and numerous first prizes.

His works are included in the prestigious collections of the University of Göttingen, Germany, Milton Stern Perfume Corporation in Montreal, the Vatican, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Japan, Goldman-Sachs & Co. New York, etc.

In 1988 two of his works, the “Sextet”, marble, and the “Homage to Gaudi”, bronze, were selected from a New York Gallery to be used in an international XEROX commercial which aired on most TV channels.

It was an honor for him to receive a commission from the Hungarian Action Committee of New York to make a replica of the Hungarian Holy Crown for a March 15th celebration, which was held in a Manhatten cathedral in 1988.

He is a member of the Audubon Artists of New York, the Associated Artists of New Jersey and the Sculptors Association of New Jersey.

Miklós Sebek feels that an artist has to be very versatile in this day and age. His work shows various styles – realistic and abstract. His abstract pieces are organic, inspired by nature, the unseen world of biology and chemistry, but the ancient folk forms are also present in his compositions. In comparison to his style his medium is also diverse. He works with marble, bronze, wood, steel and aluminum. Many of his pieces are balanced not just formally but also structurally.

American Hungarian Museum, No. 10, 1992

On March 4, 2009 there was an interesting article about Sebek in The HeraldNews as follows:

BEGINNINGS: After earning an architecture degree in Hungary, he started out as a carver and restorer of statues of great composers for Budapest!s grand opera house. “I was not satisfied with copying people, I wanted do my own design, but there wasn’t  opportunities at the time.”

NEW JERSEY LIFE: Fled the communist government in 1969, settled with relatives in North Jersey in 1970, and worked in a factory  that made plastic faucets. His wife restores painting for a living.

INSPIRATIONS: Chemistry, biology, dance and literature. His work transforms rigid materials – wood, steel, marble bronze – into sculpture with flowing movement.

THEMES: He likes eggs. You’ll find smooth, egg-shaped spheres in many of his pieces. “Its’s the regenerative force of nature,” Sebek said.

MOTHER LOVE: He created the sculpture “Motherhood” soon after he defected from his country and was missing his mom. “I didn’t get a chance to see her,” he said. The bronze, semi-figurative work has interconnected concave and convex shapes meant to resemble “the harmonious relationship between a mother and child,” he says.

THE VATICAN: His sculptures are exhibited around the world from Australia to Japan. His bronze relief of St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary, sits in St. Stephen Chapel in the Vatican..

ART FOR COWBOYS: Many wealthy art collectors have commissioned his pieces. A Texas rancher commissioned a bronze relief wall design of his cattle ranch, complete with horses and cowboys. this job led to a referral to a Texas businessman who wanted bronze statues of each of his four children.

RAW MATERIAL: Six thousand pounds of marble from Tennessee and upstate New York sat on his driveway until he used it up.

YOU SHOULD KNOW: For several year he’s taught marbling at the Clifton Adult School. “When you carve a piece of rock or marble you usually have a preconceived idea, but sometimes it’s just spontaneous work,” he said.

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