In March 2013, NTFA Contemporary Art Gallery hosted a major solo exhibition by acclaimed Hungarian painter and sculptor Attila Konnyu, featuring 25 monumental works displayed across the gallery’s expansive 21,500-square-foot space in Miami.

 

Known for his emotionally resonant paintings and sculptural works, Konnyu’s art is grounded in a deeply personal narrative shaped by survival, resilience, and transformation.

 

Born in 1963 under life-threatening circumstances, the artist later endured two additional near-death experiences that sparked a lifelong engagement with meditation and spiritual reflection.

 

“My works are rooted in the moments that nearly ended me,” Konnyu shared in an interview at ICFA Contemporary Art Gallery in Palm Beach. “When I was seven, and again as a young man, I came close to death. Those moments led me to meditation.”

 

Originally trained in architecture, Konnyu transitioned fully into the visual arts in the mid-1990s. As a multidisciplinary artist, he blends gestural abstraction, sculpture, and contemplative philosophy into a unified body of work.

 

He co-founded a gallery in Palm Beach in the 2010s and became an established presence in South Florida’s dynamic art scene. Today, he lives near the ocean in Palm Beach and works from his studio in nearby Delray Beach, where the colors of sea and sky continue to inform his luminous palette.

 

The artist’s personal history is also shaped by his father’s remarkable resilience. After World War II, Konnyu’s father was imprisoned for nearly five years in a Soviet military labor camp, yet remained, in the artist’s words, “cheerful and kind-hearted until the end of his life.” These traits continue to echo through Konnyu’s work.

 

Over the years, his contemporary abstract painting has drawn the attention of notable collectors, including members of the Kennedy and Trump families. Among his patrons are philanthropist and newspaper heiress Lois Pope, and former Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy.

 

The Miami exhibition presented the full force of Konnyu’s expressive vision - 25 large-scale canvases capturing both the fragility and strength of the human spirit. Meditative yet monumental, the works reflected a deep internal journey, elevated by universal themes of endurance and hope.

 

As part of a growing body of international art exhibitions, this solo show marked a significant milestone in Konnyu’s evolving exploration of emotion, form, and transcendence through visual language.