The fact that Ernő Bartha can be labeled as a sculptor at first sight fails to satisfy even the least ambitious attempt to categorize his work. This is because, in his case, even the desire to categorize is misdirected. If we try to take a step forward—yielding to the natural desire to escape confusion—and label him unimaginatively as a visual artist, we will re-experience failure. The term is so impotent that it dissipates irreversibly the moment we lay eyes on his work. In this case, there is nothing left to do but admit defeat and leave Cartesian thinking behind in one of the amphitheatres of melancholic, somewhat confused, and meticulous definitions.
Bartha cannot be categorized. This is not because of his own choice or because of the viewers’ lack of sensitivity to see what is in front of them, but because of the artist’s restless inspiration to escape established genres. At the same time, he refuses to align with the linguistic fictions through which different victims of identity crises try to hide their emptiness.
And yet, there is something so present, alive, and striking about his work. On a possible spiral of evolution—where the present is identified as a collision of past and future—he would occupy a space near this: an archaic, or more precisely, an ahistorical concept that is antipathetic to many because they have been unable to become a part of it. I am thinking of the concept of the “Creator.” This may seem shabby or romantic to many, but viewers cannot change the fact that Ernő Bartha is exactly what he is: a creator.
STUDIES
1998 Graduated Ion Andreescu University, Academy of Visual Arts
– Department of Sculpture, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS ↗
2016 5 years of Új Kriterion Gallery, Balassi Institute, Bucharest, Romania
2016 5 years of Új Kriterion Gallery, UNA Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
2013 Artmarket, Budapest
2012 Winter Gallery, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2012 Biksady Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2011-2012 Meeting Point Contemporary Art Biennial, Delta Gallery, Arad, Romania
2011 Bronze Age, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2011 Winter Gallery, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2010 Planet Report Environmental and Film Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2007 Ready Media, Contemporary Art Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
2006 Winter Gallery, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2004 Winter Gallery, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2000 Biennial Sculpture, Arad, Romania
1997 Workshop 3, organized by France Cultural Centre, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
1997 Autumn Gallery, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca
FILMS
2010 TVmania (short fiction, director Ernő Bartha)
2008 Life Forms (TVR1, TVR3)
2008 A Fans Afternoon (TVR3)
2008 Cluj Welcomes Budapest (MTV 2)
2007 Identities (TVR Cultural)
2005 Life Forms (Duna TV)
2004 Story with a Friend (TVR 1)
1998 Long Road (TVR2, TVR Cluj)
1998 Giants (TVR2,TVR Cluj)
2016 Interactions – Cluj-Napoca: VIA, Diesel, City Plaza, Artis 3, Amprenta, ING, Casa Barolo, Harmonia Mundi
2016 Interactions – Bucharest: Gemini Solutions, Fitexpress Studio
2014 Imaginarium, Kriterion Gallery, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania
2014 Arkhai Sculpture Park opening, Magyarfenes, Romania
2013 Nature in the City, Szabadság tér, TIFFszereda, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania
2013 TV Mania, House of Arts, TIFFszereda, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania
2012 Nature in the City, Cultural Olympiad, Pleasure Gardens, London, England
2012 Nature in the City, Cultural Olympiad, Victoria Park, London, England
2012 Dystopia, Intact Space Gallery, Brush Factory, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2011 TVmania, Cultural Centre, Vlaha, Romania
2010 TVmania, Cultural Centre ODYSSUD, Toulouse-Blagnac, France
2010 TVmania, White Nights of Museums, Art Museum, Cluj, Romania
2010 Arkhai, White Nights of Museums, Quadro Gallery, Cluj, Romania
2009 TVmania, Budapest Gallery, Hungary
2009 TVmania, Bookfest Budapest, Hungary – Romania, honor guest
2008 Nature in the City, Millenaris Park, Budapest Spring Festival, Hungary
2007 Nature in the City, Thalia Square, Sibiu – European Cultural Capital, Romania
2007 Nature in the City, Reformed Church’s Park, Spring Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2007 Arkhai, Korunk Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2007 1848, Petőfi Park, Sibiu European Capital of Culture
2006 Fânfest, Roşia Montană, Romania
2006 Arkhai, Artis3 Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2004 Arkhai, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2002 Genesis, Meranflora Festival, Merano, Italy
2002 Genesis, Art Museum, Tatabánya, Hungary
2001 Genesis, Valley of Arts, Kapolcs, Hungary
2001 Genesis, Mediawave Festival, Győr, Hungary
2000 Genesis, Valley of Arts, Kapolcs, Hungary
1999 Genesis, Muzeul Agriculture, Budapest, Hungary
1999 Genesis, France Cultural Centre, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
1999 Genesis, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
1999 Genesis, Trafó Contemporary Art Centre, Budapest, Hungary
1998 Genesis, Art Museum, Constanţa, Romania
1998 Genesis, Art Museum, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
PRIZE
2015 The Transylvanian Hungarian Contemporary Prize, fine arts