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ATTILA KONNYU

Hungarian-born American artist working across painting, theatre, sculpture, film - and rooted in contemporary abstract painting.

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Bio

Attila Konnyu is a Hungarian-born American artist whose practice exemplifies a rare and dynamic synthesis of disciplines, encompassing painting, sculpture, film, writing, and architecture. While his creative output spans multiple forms and genres, it is within the realm of painting that Konnyu's voice is most powerfully articulated - characterized by a gestural, emotionally charged abstraction that speaks to both personal and universal states of being. Attila Konnyu - painter, sculptor, experimental theater and film director ​Trained in architecture at Ybl Miklós University in Budapest, Konnyu embarked on his professional journey in the cinematic arts, joining Mafilm Studios in the 1980s as an artistic director before assuming the role of executive producer at Hungarian Television (MTV). This early engagement with visual storytelling profoundly shaped his artistic sensibility, imbuing his later work with a keen awareness of spatial dynamics, rhythm, and the evocative power of imagery. Konnyu’s oeuvre is equally informed by a life of expansive travel and cultural immersion. Having journeyed across every continent save Antarctica, he has continually absorbed and transformed a wide range of global aesthetic traditions into a unique visual lexicon. Particularly formative were his encounters with post - war European artists Karel Appel and Emil Schumacher in Spain and Italy - exchanges that deeply influenced his approach to mark-making, materiality, and the expressive potential of abstraction. Since relocating to the United States in 2013, Konnyu has reengaged with the cinematic medium while simultaneously expanding his international presence. His work has been exhibited widely, including in major institutions throughout China, most notably at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing. Additional exhibitions include the International Exhibition in Dubai, UAE; Sun Mall Museum of Art, Mexico; Miami Basel Art Fair; Palm Beach Art Exhibit; and Mar-a-Lago Club, FL, USA. In Hungary, his work has been shown at the Munkácsy Museum, the Budapest Art Fair, and the Hungarian National Gallery. Diplomatic venues have also hosted his work, including the embassies of Kuwait, Albania, and Saudi Arabia in Budapest. Konnyu's practice resists easy categorization, unfolding instead as an ongoing investigation into the interplay between structure and spontaneity, control and chaos, memory and immediacy. His paintings serve not only as visual experiences but also as meditative environments - sites of transformation, reflection, and profound emotional resonance.

A Creative Journey Through Europe, America, Dubai, and China

 
1960s 

 

Attila Konnyu was born in Hungary and trained as an architect.


He developed a sensitivity to structure, space, and material early in life.

 
1980s 

 

In the 1980s, he entered the world of film.


As an artistic director at Mafilm Studios and Hungarian Television, he shaped visual narratives through set design and camera.

2000s 

His return to painting was a return to the body.


A direct, physical form of expression - unmediated, intuitive, and alive.

2010s 

Atilla Konnyu's work has been shown across the US, Europe, and China, including at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

Attila Konnyu - buy abstract art online
Attila Konnyu - buy abstract art online
Attila Konnyu - buy abstract art online
Attila Konnyu - buy abstract art online
Attila Konnyu - buy abstract art online
Attila Konnyu - buy abstract art online
Attila Konnyu - Tachisme - Ocean - buy abstract art online

I do not begin with concept.
I begin with presence.

 

 

Each painting emerges through movement - through the hand, through breath, through stillness.

 

The work is not planned. It is not corrected.

 

It is allowed to arrive. Sometimes it comes fast, like a storm.

 

Sometimes it waits. Gesture is not decoration. It is language.

attila konnyu - Hungarian Cultural Institute, Beijing

The Origins of a Quiet Instinct

"As a child, I spent summers in the countryside - days filled with animals, rain-soaked fields, and color. I remember witnessing the birth of a calf, and the moment it looked into my eyes.

 

That connection to life - immediate, wordless - stayed with me.

One afternoon, standing in a poppy field, I saw a rainbow so close it felt almost touchable.

 

That vision sparked something in me: a longing to reach what can’t be reached, to express what can’t be spoken.

 

That instinct has never left. It still guides my work today."

Attila-Konnyu-Attila-Konnyu-Amrican-Hungarian-Painter-Taoist-Artist.JPEG

“In stillness, a brush moves. In movement, stillness remains.”

Rooted in Taoism, my art is not made - it emerges.

 

Each painting is a surrender to flow, not control.

 

I do not seek to capture the world, but to echo its essence: impermanence, harmony, and the unseen patterns between all things.

Like water, the paint finds its own way.

 

Like Tao, it reveals more by saying less.

 

This is not art to command attention, it’s an invitation to presence; a space where simplicity speaks, silence teaches, and beauty flows without force.

Exhibitions From Palm Beach to the Great Wall

Attila Konnyu’s work has been exhibited internationally for over three decades, including solo and group shows across Europe, the United States, and Asia.

 

His international art exhibitions reflect a consistent global presence and cross-cultural relevance.

Attila J Konnyu - Artist

Budapest  

Miami

Palm Beach        Venice

Chongqing

Dubai

Beijing           Hong Kong

attila konnyu contemporary hungarian artist

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