From playing with clay to 3D printing, Krisztian’s artistic journey has been filled with dedication, tenacity, experimentation and heart.
Growing up in a very artistic household, with a sculptor/painter mother and a theater/movie director father, one could say art is in his blood. Kristzian P. recalls being surrounded by his mother’s sculptures – human-animal hybrids often mythologically inspired – and being able to observe her creative process, which laid the foundation for his own relationship with art. At a young age, he began sculpting with clay, mimicking his mother and utilizing art early on as a form of light-hearted therapy, fully immersing himself in the process – something that would later contribute to his own reintroduction to art.
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Photography – Yelyzaveta Samsonova
Being raised in such a liberating environment at home, learning how art and imagination have no boundaries, stood in stark contrast to the otherwise more traditional and conservative views he was subjected to, attending catholic school in Hungary. This mentality quickly set him apart, informing his curiosity and teaching him the ability to approach the world from a different perspective. Despite his affinity for art, he also witnessed the perils of being an artist, ultimately deciding to temporarily step away from art and pursue a degree in business, which led to his leaving Hungary and moving to the UK.
No longer in a repressive environment, Krisztian felt more comfortable to explore his queer identity and his lived experience as a gay man. While this aspect of his identity was finally brought to light, he no longer felt comfortable in his nationality:
“So I left Hungary behind, and that kind of allowed me to start to find myself or accept myself in general as a queer man as well as a gay person and to explore that without all the shame and darkness that comes from being in this repressed environment. […] So because of this, I had this very tough relationship with my nationality as well. I tried to hide the fact that I’m Hungarian because I was not proud of it. After I came out, I was even more ashamed of it in a way.”
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Photography – Veronika Yad
While navigating these changes, his hiatus slowly came to an end, as he took his first steps into digital art. Motivated by his interest in social media, he began creating face filters on Instagram. Having missed out on the experience of going to art school, he had to take his education into his own hands, utilizing online resources to guide him while exploring this new avenue. Due to the autonomous nature of his learning journey, he quickly had to become very disciplined and resilient to overcome the many frustrations that accompany the digital art process:
“It takes a lot of time and you fail all the time. The programs often collapse and close without saving all of your progress. It takes a lot of patience and you have to have the right mindset to be in it. So I kind of just tried to teach my brain to look at it as if you were playing with clay, like I was as a kid – to make it fun, so that even with failure, it’s just play and enjoyment.”
Employing this mindset finally bore fruit, as he began working with global brands such as Maybelline and NYX Cosmetics, simultaneously being driven to delve deeper and expand his knowledge of 3D design. While learning, he stayed true to his creative vision, always putting his own spin on things, even when following tutorials – his inspiration coming from mythology or science-fiction movies such as X-Men and Star Wars. Living in this fantasy world as a child, he was finally able to immerse himself in it and the seemingly limitless possibilities of the digital world only further fed the artistic flame inside him.
Krisztian’s shift from digital art to 3D printing was heavily influenced by the confidence he garnered on his previous learning journey. Having contemplated getting a 3D printer for a long time, he finally took the plunge and purchased one online, despite not having any prior knowledge of operating it. Embarking on yet another autonomous learning journey, he quickly realized that the learning curve is even steeper than the previous one. Motivated by the desire to make his art tangible and bring it into the real world, he soon discovered his true passion for the craft:
“That’s the beauty of 3D printing as well, that your digital art kind of becomes a real tangible object which, coming from the world of 3D design, is like witchcraft to me. It’s literally like a digital spell that creates something physical that didn’t exist before from liquid, which is mind blowing to me.”
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Photography – Kendra Storm Rae
Not having to rely on art as his source of income, he had the freedom of exploring at his own pace, and creating just for himself. He slowly began documenting his journey online, wanting simply to share his fascination with others, without any concrete expectations. His creations instantly resonated with people and he began building an audience who shared in his fascination. Almost as if guided by fate, his early insect-inspired pieces garnered the attention of fashion designer Maximilian Gedra, who soon proposed a collaboration for his upcoming fashion show. The theme of the pieces coincidentally perfectly matched the collection, and with this fashion show, Krisztian finally achieved his first big milestone. Filled with pride, he recalls the emotions he felt seeing his art on the runway:
“But when it walked down the runway the first time and I heard people gasp and I heard the pictures being taken – I just started to cry. Not only because of the achievement, but also because I was so excited to call my parents and tell them about it. It felt like a huge thing as an immigrant person to come into another country and kind of find your footing, and then to see that people are even a little bit hyped about something that you created – like you’re leaving your mark here and not just kind of existing around. It really felt like I’m right where I’m supposed to be – in this city, at this age, at this time.”
Further collaborations followed and he was able to use these experiences as a tool to push himself artistically, widen the scope of his capabilities and later apply those skills to his new creations. Upgrading his equipment, he began making bigger and bigger pieces while focusing more on wearability and functionality.
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Photography – Shin Jeong Hoon
Even though his pieces were being positively received online, he often struggled with his online presence. He recounts seeing artists sharing their process in a very aesthetically pleasing way, while describing his own as very messy and bohemic. The pressures of a polished Instagram aesthetic soon dissipated as he realized that the authenticity of his approach was much more relatable than his attempts at feigning perfection, finding excitement in his audience’s reactions and confidence through his own self-doubt.
Starting out with nose pieces and masks, he initially felt slightly overwhelmed with the possibilities of 3D printing:
“Technically, the only limitation that you have is the size, but you can create anything you want, and it is both a blessing and a curse. The only limitation you have is literally your mind. But when you can create everything, it’s sometimes hard to create anything at all.”
By popular demand, he began creating press-on nails, to match his facial accessories, and started venturing out from there. Though his art style is very avant-garde and rooted in fantasy, he places great importance on creating pieces that people can relate to emotionally. At the core of his art is his queer identity – being able to create pieces that defy gender stereotypes and fail to fit into a societal mold, attributing this element to his own queer lived experience teaching him to break free from these limitations.
Taking his art a step further, he initiated a collaboration with his mother and her sculptures, seeing them in a new light following his own artistic growth. He began creating molds of her sculptures and combining them with his 3D prints, giving birth to a synthesis of their respective creations, while being able to pay homage to a lifetime of support and inspiration:
“As an artist’s son, to do something with your artist mom, who you learned so much from, and then to bring her into this world and, you know, it’s something new for her – that’s beautiful. And that is such a happy and full circle moment – kind of like being able to give back for all the things that she gave me.”
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Photography – Jamie Lueders
This collaboration also sparked a comparison between traditional sculptural art and 3D printed art. Often people misattribute 3D art as something simple and easy, but Krisztian describes how the process is far from it. There are lots of complicated steps that lead up to the finished product looking polished. Still, he admits there are some advantages to the digital process:
“There is a back button, whereas in real life there is no back button. So you can actually clean up, if something comes out terrible and you think ‘It was much better 10 minutes ago’. And I did see my mom, as a kid, destroying sculptures because they went in a different direction than she wanted them to, and she fell out of love with it. And I saw the struggle of it, but it also makes it kind of beautiful. I do think that handcrafted pieces still hold more merit. And sometimes I have this existential crisis that at the end of the day I am making 3D printed plastic things.”
Contemplating the material, he realized that he can add a handcrafted element, by painting or embellishing his pieces, introducing an extra layer of depth and pouring even more soul into every creation.
While already well into his journey and with many achievements under his belt, he refrains from making any concrete future plans, but rather revels in the beauty of the unknown. Not wanting to fall prey to capitalist ideologies, he prefers to take things one step at a time and continue his growth organically, rather than attempting to drastically increase the scale – thereby keeping the clay-moulding child that lives inside of him alive.
