Balint Zsako’s work filters the disparate elements of contemporary art through the language of figurative painting. Its like performance art recorded using Indian miniatures, land art described by medieval illumination, conceptual art acted out by the figures on a Greek vase or installation art transcribed into Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The starting point for these paintings is the pose of a figure copied from a photograph or an old master painting. The next step is working out what direction the narrative is going to take. How will adding a minimalist construction of microphones and lightbulbs, a flock of birds or a vascular system that turns into the roots of a flowering plant contribute to the plot? Most of the stories center around themes of bodily functions, human interactions, sex and death but are held tightly in place by strict considerations of geometric balance and color relationships.

Balint Zsako was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979 and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1988. Since graduating with a B.A in Fine Arts from Ryerson University in Toronto, he has exhibited his photographs, collages, sculptures, paintings and drawings internationally.The New Yorker Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, The Walrus Magazine, Poetry Magazine and the New York Times Magazine have all featured his works. A travelling exhibition of his drawings was organized by the MoCCA in Toronto and is accompanied by the artist’s first monograph.

Balint Zsako lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.