Dora Stork is a contemporary Hungarian artist. She gained international recognition as a selected artist in the London Art Biennale in 2023. An award-winning painter, Dora's art has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in prestigious venues across the UK, Hungary, and Romania. Her distinctive creations have found a home in private collections spanning the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan.
Identifying as an abstract realist encaustic painter, Dora Stork employs a unique artistic approach that involves using color in an abstract manner, portraying form in a realist fashion, and infusing her work with symbolic significance. Her paintings serve as a reflection of her keen interest in public life, as well as social and economic processes, offering viewers a thought-provoking perspective on these complex issues. Dora strives to construct dreamlike compositions that challenge perceptions, using incongruous details and peculiar circumstances to evoke a sense of familiarity.
Dora's chosen medium is hot wax painting, an ancient technique that imparts durability, vividness, and scratch resistance to her creations. Notably, she exclusively employs self-made wax media, without the addition of oil or other paints. The artist applies layers of hot wax paint with precision, controlling the flow to prevent unwanted color mixing.
In her recent works, Dora has embraced OSB (Oriented Strand Board) as a base for her encaustic pieces, appreciating its industrial texture and environmental sustainability derived from recycled wood. The unique patterns of the wood veneer contribute to a rustic industrial atmosphere that becomes an integral part of the composition, achieved by skillfully scraping back layers of paint. Each piece becomes a one-of-a-kind creation due to the distinctive pattern of the wood.
Dora Stork is an active member of various prestigious art organizations, including the Fine Arts Capital Art Society since 2023, the Society of Scottish Artists since 2021, the National Society of Fine and Applied Arts since 2010, and the Újpest Artist Society since 2009. Through her participation in these organizations, Dora continues to contribute to and engage with the vibrant art community, further solidifying her impact on the contemporary art scene.
In the Gallery section, we present an artist in the person of Dora Stork Encaustic Artist, who uses modern tools to create lasting works with an ancient wax painting technique called encaustic. Her works often hold up a crooked mirror to a current political situation, and this is resoundingly reflected in the artist's OSB boards.
https://issuu.com/tintafolyoirat/docs/tinta_foly_irat_xi._sz_m
Budapest, Titok Galéria Secret Gallery, Ó utca, Magyarország
INVITATION
I look forward to seeing all my dear friends and acquaintances at my solo encaustic exhibition at the Secret Gallery on Friday, March 3, 2023, at 5 p.m.
Budapest, Árpád Road 66, Hungary
Yesterday at the Újpest Gallery was the opening of the usual Year-End Winter Exhibition in a mask with distance. This is where my latest triptych, Innocent Games, was introduced.
It will be on display until January 8th.
Enkaustic, mixed media on MDF, 3 x 70 x 50 cm.
The my encaustic painting is made with self-made paint, which basically consists of pigments and beeswax. Does not contain oil or other paints.
The procedure itself dates back to antiquity and has been known for thousands of years. Only few artists around the world work with wax on its own.
Artworks made with encaustic are characterized by bright color and silky light. Thanks to the well-preserving properties of the wax, the colors do not fade over time and retain their liveliness.
Encaustics paintings, like paintings taken with oil, must be protected from water and physical influences. Do not place under glass when framing!
Over time, they become dusty or slightly oxidized by the wax. In this case, it is advisable to wipe with a slightly crumpled kitchen paper towel and the painting regain their original brilliant color and shine.
I saw a wax picture once. It was non-figurative and abstract. This style is not really my own, but enthralled its silky glow, brilliant colours and transparency. Full with enthusiasm, I looked up everything that could be known about it on the internet and in its literature. Well, I didn't find much about this ancient technique but it was a good start. Mostly I found information about fayum portraits and sarcophagus. Today, iron techniques are the most popular, therefore most of the modern resources are about it.
It was more than 15 years ago. Since then I've been studying the wax material, its mixing with pigments and so on. Finally, I created my own medium according to my precisely composed recipe what I’ve used to developed my wax painting technique. Because there was nobody who could teach me, I had to experiment the knowhow by my own.
I can already express what I want with wax as I wish. I really like this material because it’s very versatile. Sometimes it's hard and heavy like an oil picture. My pictures are often mistaken oil paintings. Other times it's easy and unrepeatable like a watercolour. The colours are full and radiant.
I like wax. I like that it dries quickly, doesn’t lose its colour, doesn’t crack. It’s not as vulnerable as we would expect. It’s almost immediatly solidified, so I have to work fast.
In addition to wax, I sometimes paint with acrylic, but wax is my eternal love.
In the photo are my tools and materials for my encaustic.
The encaustic painting comes from the age of ancient. Encausting meaning „to burn it”. Its the essence is that the molten beeswax is used as a binder for pigment. Used it at 80 degrees. The procedure is quite difficult because it has to be painted quickly because it’s almost immediatly solidigyed in seconds. It is best to apply to rigid materials for example the wood. Because then the painting will not refracted as on the canvas. Wax does not deteriorate, so these images are very durable and colours are not fading. Ready-made pictures do not require special treatment, enough wipe with dust-free soft cloth and protect away from radiant heat.
I also make my own paints from producer natur beeswax with palm wax and pigments.The wax I clean and clear the beeswax in several rounds. When it's pretty clean I'll mix with the other ingredients.
Budapest, Árpád út 66, 1043 Hungary
Újpest Gallery
Due to the pandemic, our annual exhibition cannot be visited. The works are above on the wall in the gallery and a film was made about them.
https://youtu.be/4kypiQR61G8
Packaging of my artworks for transport
