Featured Artist Alex Jobbagy

Artist Alex Jobbagy presents a striking body of surrealist work filled with symbolism and meaning. Visit his website to see more of his portfolio.

 

 

Growing up in Romania as part of an ethnic minority under a communist dictatorship was challenging. Creating art was very tricky. Landscapes, still life, portraits and decorative works were considered “safe” categories. If you wanted to express any political views or examine social issues through art, you had to resort to a form of symbolism and/or surrealism.

 

 

You would immerse the subject matter inside an imaginary world while making sure that any reference to the real one was carefully hidden. This is why from an early age I was drawn to allegorical depictions and often bizarre, dreamlike metaphors as expressions of my thoughts.

 

 

My father was an artist puppeteer. I spent half of my childhood behind the curtains of theatres. I enjoyed and experienced classical theatre and children’s stories from a different perspective–literally from the actors and artists standpoint. That experience and stimulus also helped me to develop my own creative world.

 

 

I was always drawing and painting. Not trying to copy real life, but to output my own vision through colours and forms. My parents were very supportive. At the age of 13, I had my first solo exhibition. At that time, I didn’t understand the sudden media interests from newspapers and television but sensed that something significant happened that may influence the rest of my life.

 

 

Later, I finished four years of arts college studying visual arts. I started painting on fine porcelain and pursued further studies in ceramics. I ended up designing decorative tiles. During that time, I perfected hand painting large scale compositions of 3-4 metres on ceramic wall tiles. Some of these works still stand in hotel foyers, private and government collections, and tourist complexes at Black Sea resorts.

 

 

After years of artistic struggle, the political situation forced me to leave the old country. I spent some time in Austria creating art and studying fine art restoration. After a successful show in Vienna, I arrived in Australia in 1987. My creative path shifted into the commercial world of graphic design and marketing. I  earned an MBA in the process. During the Covid pandemic, I returned to my artistic roots with renewed focus. My work was exhibited in Australia and overseas. The year 2025 marked a significant period of artistic momentum.

 

 

Using mainly oil and acrylic on canvas, my paintings explore human vulnerability, social fragmentation, technological control, the erosion of values, and existential disconnection. These themes are not abstract or distant; they affect the everyday lives of individuals and reflect the broader condition of our shared society.

 

 

My aim is to confront both personal and collective truths, and offer a space for viewers to reflect, question, and reconnect with meaning in a world that often feels disoriented and disconnected.

 

 

My work is not surrealist for its own sake. The imagery I use is a deliberate language, one that allows me to examine the deeper currents shaping our world.

 

Alex Jobbagy invites you to follow him on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

 

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