Gabriella Prokai alias LAPROKAY
The painter Gabriella Prokai, born 1973 in Hungary, lives and works as a freelance artist in Küsnacht near Zurich. Over the last two decades she has constantly developed her unmistakable style.
Even the backgrounds of the paintings are very elaborately designed. Various materials are used. For example, putty is applied to the empty canvases and several layers of acrylic with a spatula before the motif is painted in oil and fuses with the background. In this way the artist creates a relief-like picture with different depths, which create completely different moods under different lighting conditions.
Laprokay: Eyes Wide Shut - Serie "Die vierte Dimension" / Mischtechnik auf Leinwand (100 x 70 cm) mit drei Lichtfenstern, auf einer Grundplatte asymmetrisch montiert und indirekt beleuchtet (LED, 220V) / 120 x 80 x 7 cm, 2020
Reflections on EYES WIDE SHUT from the series "DIE VIERTE DIMENSION":
Laprokay's vision for this series was to create a painting as a kind of sculpture and that it would take on another dimension. The subject reflects a simple moment of the day and the temperament that is hidden in it.
The artist discovered a material (industrial paint) for the base plate, which changes depending on light conditions and viewing angles. She applies the paint in several layers with different tools on the primed rough wooden plate. In addition, individual areas on the painting are deliberately painted with the background colour, so that the painting merges with the background plate and forms a unit.
The light windows open up a total work of art to the viewer, which, depending on space and time, permanently appears in a different guise. Thus, the lines shift when passing by and when the background lighting is switched on the painting throws an asymmetrical cone of light onto the surroundings. The motif recedes into the background in the dark, while the latter bathes the room in a subtle light. This creates an amazing dynamic.
At second glance, the audience realizes that everything about the painting appears asymmetrical and yet very balanced. The motif forms the centre and through the uneven distribution of the edges, the artist creates an additional tension. To make sure that the fourth dimension is just as uneven, the stretcher frame was diagonally braced at different heights.
Laprokay: Behind the scene / Mischtechnik auf Leinwand (100 x 70 cm) mit drei Lichtfenstern, auf einer Grundplatte asymmetrisch montiert und indirekt beleuchtet / 120 x 80 x 7cm, 2020
Reflections on BEHIND THE SCENE from the series "THE FOURTH DIMENSION:
"In this work I wanted to depict a moment as it happens again and again. A very everyday and inconspicuous scene, where the beauty can only be seen on closer inspection. Thus the woman gets ready for the day or goes to bed after a strenuous day. So I leave the audience to their own thoughts in this painting as well. This painting also shows its true power in the darkness."
Laprokay: Hingabe / Mischtechnik auf Leinwand, 60 x 40 cm / 2019
Laprokay: Target - Serie "Die vierte Dimension" / Mischtechnik auf Leinwand (120 x 70 cm) auf einer Grundplatte (120 x 90 cm) asymmetrisch montiert und gegen links verschoben. Endgrösse 140 x 90 cm / Gewicht: 18,3 kg / 2020