I am a visual artist of Roma heritage who migrated from Hungary to London in 2010 and contributed to the capital’s art scene from the outset. I started painting in the early 90s, while I was studying and working as a member of the Open Studio Art Foundation of Városliget in Budapest. In 2004, following Hungary’s EU accession, I travelled to Greece and Cyprus, and worked in Athens and Crete before returning to Central Europe for my first solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Budapest. In the following years I participated in various art projects and workshops in Hungary, also I was influenced by a Roma art group, where I started to focus on issues of ethnicity, identity and values of Roma culture.
Today my Romani heritage has an impact on my choice of themes, it relieves my exploration of across real life and artistic context and allows for a new qualities to appear in creative output and everyday life. Alongside acrylic, pastel chalk and watercolour my current interest include image transfer and collage techniques. During a mixed media art course in collage, I began to explore a different form of expression, using image transfer and watercolour combined on paper. I often apply patterns and artefacts from the traditional Roma culture into contexts which lies beyond what is usually understood by, and expected of, Roma art. This is an exploration of the borrow-ability of elements of culture through art, images and media.
Web shop: https://society6.com/robertczibi
Recent activities:
17 March 2022 YRA22 Young Romani Artists group exhibition Stiftung Kai Dikhas, Berlin
Sep.-Dec. 2021 World Roma Congress Art Exhibition 198 Gallery, London & Stiftung Kai Dikhas, Berlin.
8 April 2021 World Roma Congress 50th Anniversary, online
6 Sept. – 16 Dec. 2019 Roma Stories touring exhibition, collaborating with Roma Support Group – Oral History Project
July 2019 A group exhibition on analogue collage at Genesis Cinema Gallery, London
June 2019 Transfers Collage exhibition at UCL Festive of Culture, London
June 2018 Gypsy Roma Travellers History Month celebration, exhibition at City Hall, London
Aug 2017 AQUARELLAND solo exhibition at Bon Matin Cafe, London, Finsbury Park.
June 2017 Sense of belonging: Mozaics from a new Portrait of London at Waterstones Gallery, Gower street.
May 2017 ROOTS a multi artist exhibition at Park Theatre,London
May 2016 Exhibition Vagabond of Bloomsbury part of UCL’s Festival of Culture
April 2016 New York City at NYU Romani/Gypsy Art and Letters Conference. Presenting on my Roma identity and my works on the same theme was exhibited during the event.
- Oct, 2015. Solo Exhibition at Sable d’Or Patisserie, London, Muswell Hill.
- June 2015: Park Theatre, london. “A Spotlight on Hungarian Artists featuring Robert Czibi and the Expecto „This shines a spotlight on Hungarians.”
- May 2015: UCL Festival of the Arts, I was curator/participator of the exhibition “East European-ize: London through East European Eyes”
- April 2015 : London Coffee Festival Brick Lane, London- collective exhibition
- August 2014 : ” 130 Views” open Exhibition by Oh! Gallery. It’s the celebration of Oxford House 130th anniversary.
- Jan 2014 : Escape to happiness present by Guerilla Galleries.
Robert Czibi 