Portrait VI. Painting

Szabolcs Menyhei was born in Kecskemet, Hungary in 1980 (His birth name is Joseph Szabolcs Menyhei - pronounced "sa-bolch"). As a kid, he was always fond of drawing and later became interested in computer graphics as well. He had never thought of becoming a professional artist until his father advised him to learnfrom a reputed master. He went to the Free Art School of Kecskemét to study painting at the age of 20. He studied under the guidance of András Bruncsák and also attended the life drawing classesof Péter Gyenes. He gained his First degree at the University of Szeged in 2005 and later graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2008. His master was Pál Lázár. He is also grateful to all the artists he has worked with since then: István Szappanos, Ilona Istvánffy, József Balogh, Ferenc Farkas and everyone from the art camp of Hajós, Veránka, Kalocsa and Izsák. He is a founding member of the X group (community of young fine artists living and working in Kecskemét).The subjects and motifs of his paintings are contemporary, but technically his works are deeply rooted in the classical tradition of European painting. In that regard he considers Matteo Massagrande as a major influence from whom he learned a lot about the techniques of the Old Masters.He worked at the Katedra Secondary School of Arts between 2005 and 2011, where he was teaching traditional and digital art, art history.He also worked as a freelance graphic artist, painting background for animated features and series and later turned to movies. Most recently he worked for the prestigious Double Negative Visual Effects studio. He contributed to the visual effects of Total Recall, Rush (directed by Academy Award winner Ron Howard) and currently working on Thor: The Dark World.