SHIVER PRESENTS: HENRIETT JUHÁSZ

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I am originally from a small town in Hungary, but I’ve lived in London for almost 12 years now.

WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC BACKGROUND?

I have always been a creative person. At a young age I loved to draw and create things. I often did a makeover on my toys and barbies or I would draw. I used to watch cartoons and re-draw the characters. Nothing was good enough the way it was.
I wanted to pursue a career in fashion as a designer, so I went to a high school specialising in design and art. There I learnt the basics. We had a lot of life drawing and design classes along with art history and folk art. I really enjoyed my time there. After high school I moved to London. I went to UAL London College of Fashion and got a degree in Fashion Design Technology Womenswear. So, I never got a formal education in Fine Arts, but recently I got into painting, so I am educating myself.  

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE MEDIUMS?

Formerly, I started drawing my compositions with markers on paper. Markers were something I was familiar with as I used to draw fashion illustrations with markers. But I didn’t feel like it’s the medium that is right for the subject. Although, I still use this tool to draw in smaller scale. I switched to Acrylic paint and started to paint on canvas which I had never done before so I am actually still learning to work with the medium and there are lot of techniques, I haven’t explored with it just yet. In the future I would like to try integrating different mediums, such as collage perhaps.

WHO/WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR KEY INFLUENCES/INSPIRATIONS ARE?

I have always been influenced by Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo and I love the colours of Joan Miro. I am also usually heavily influenced by fashion and architecture. My most favourite is Brutalist architecture. The bare minimum works so well.

Do you have any musical influences that inspire your work? Or any particular artists/songs you like to listen to while working?

I’m doing good! I’ve had a couple down days and dealing with PMS during this whole thing has been an interesting experience to say the least. I was away from January, and was meant to come home April 30th but, obviously, had to come home earlier. That was weird as I had to be isolated in my room for 2 weeks so as not to put my family at risk, I had some rough days during that. I’ve been working on something every day, and every now and then I come up with something that I feel proud of enough to show people. I think it’s important to keep your brain active and creative right now, not just for artists but for everyone, it stops you going completely mad.