Artportal.hu

(17. April 1961., Letenye –)

József Ferkovits’s parents having been divorced, he grew up in an  orphanage. From his early years, he used to draw everything  he saw or experienced. His schoolteachers noticed his talent  and sent him to several competitions. In 1974 he won the  second prize at an International Children’s Drawing Competition  in Japan. In spite of this, he was sent to Komló to become a miner. At the same time, in a secondary school of fine and applied arts in Pécs, graphic artist, János Horváth polished his talent. (He encountered his parents when he was 18 years oldal that was his first encounter with the gypsy culture.) In 1982 he moved to Budapest, and became the private student of artist painters, László Pajzs and Ernő Fóti at the college of fine and applied arts. During this time, he got married, and after three years he had to quit the college. For some time he worked as a miner. In 1989 he and his wife moved to Nagykanizsa.

Ferkovits was longing for creative work. For years he was teaching, directing a training circle, and prepared children for competitions.Meanwhile he obtained a diploma in graphic art. At present, he lives in Budapest again. He participated in numerous thematic and collective exhibitions. In 2000 he presented his works of art at the 3^rd National Exhibition of Roma Artists. In 2007 he exhibited at the Csók István Gallery of Székesfehérvár (Conjunction) and at the Budapest National Gallery (The Coloured Dreams of Remembrance). In 2003 he was asked by the roma journal, Amaro Drom to create a graphic series on the holocaust, which became famous very soon. It was exhibited in the Holocaust Memorial Centre several times. His favourite themes are people, poverty and nature. He paints in various styles, nonetheless, he has a particular style of expression, which characterizes only him. Ferkovits’s works were presented – along with many other settlements of Hungary – in Berlin, Naples, Rome, Beijing and Washington D.C. His paintings decorate several public institutions, and can be found in the Gallery of the Roma Parliament, in the Museum of Ethnography and in the collection of the Hungarian Cultural Institute.

Solo exhibitons

2003 ● Holocaust Memorial Centre, Budapest

Collective shows

2000 ● 3^rd National Exhibition of Roma Artists

2007 ● Conjunction, Csók István Gallery, Székesfehérvár ● The Coloured Dreams of Remembrance, National Gallery, Budapest

Works in public collection

Hungarian Cultural Institute, Budapest

Museum of Ethnography, Kecskemét

Gallery of the Roma Parliament, Budapest.