About his Life

Sam Havadtoy is an England-born painter, sculptor and interior designer, with Hungarian origins. He lived and worked in the vibrant New York art scene of the 70’s and 80’s. Sam is a phenomenon, everybody knows him. He started to take painting and screen-printing seriously by the suggestion of Andy Warhol. For twenty years Havadtoy shared his newly American life with the quintessential creators of pop art and music, such as Yoko Ono, John Lennon, David Bowie, and Keith Haring.

He established the famous Gallery 56, which was named by Yoko Ono referring to the revolution in the art world. This gallery represented the biggest American pop art artists in Budapest like Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat.

About his Art

Dual-identity determined his art. The wild, impertinent and playful American pop art made a powerful impact on his style, but he was also deeply influenced by the frustration of the freedom-less Eastern European petit-bourgeois expectations on art. Since Havadtoy’s art reflects on the problems faced in the Eastern European cultural environment, the art loving audiences of this territory received his art in the most sensitive manner. Havadtoy’s art suggests an intriguing/challenging combination of the bold slap-in-the-face American pop art juxtaposed and intertwined with the inhibited, suppressed, secretive, and hypocritical Eastern European life: existence in pain and distress covered-up by neat embroidery.

For Havadtoy, creating art was a way to relieve frustration.

He was influenced by this method after learning about the artwork called Leu by Laszlo Moholy Nagy, who painted dots to “paint out” his disease leukemia from himself. Inspired by this therapy, Havadtoy wrote down painful short stories about his life, which he covered with lace and paint, making them partly disappear. Therefore, the frustration could dissolve.

Another important series of Havadtoy are the chess-paintings. The chess serves as a metaphor for life and relationships. He often paints white figures on white tables. He calls these works “Trust Chess”, because sometimes we trust our partner too much, like he or she fights on the same side as us. Or how could we determine the enemy if everybody plays with the same color?

A few years ago, he started to work on sculptures of Disney characters: he covers Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Betty Boop with his signature lace and paints over them. He states that his worldview is as innocent and wondering as children’s mind.

Sam Havadtoy works are available at the Kalman Maklary Fine Arts.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2018

- Ludwig Museum

- Royal Villa of Monza 

2017  

- Villa Reale, Monza

- Palazzo Bembo, Venice Biennale 2017

-  Milan, Fondazione MUDIMA

2016

- Budapest, Kálmán Makláry Fine Arts

- KunKelemen Fine Arts, Bratislave

2014

- Budapest, Kálmán Makláry Fine Arts

2013

- Jeleniej Górze, Muzeum Karkonoskie

- Eger, Kepes Institute

- Northampton, Oresman Gallery

2012

- Cluj Napoca, Museul De Arta

- Milano, Palazzo Pirelli

2011

- Amsterdam, Town Hall

- Santa Margherita, Villa Durazzo

- Genova, Italy, Palazzo Bianco Museum

- Santa Margherita, Italy

2010

- B55 Gallery, Budapest

- Bratislava, The National Theatre of Slovakia

- Budapest, The National Theatre of Hungary

- Tel Aviv, Museum of Modern Art

- Rome, Ermanno Tadeschi Gallery

2009

- Milan, Ermanno Tadeschi Gallery – Fundazione Mundima

2008

- Milan, Fondazione MUDIMA

2007

- Moscow, Central for Hungarian Culture

2006

- Bucharest, Romanian National Gallery

LONG MUSEUM, Shanghai, China

Ludwig Museum, Contemporary Museum of Arts, Budapest, Hungary

Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

Kepes Institute, Eger, Hungary