Istvan Banyai is an award winning Hungarian born American illustrator. He won many awards (gold and brass, silver and tin) in the last 40 years, worked with all the American magazines and newspapers (The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Playboy, Rolling Stone,… you name it) as well as some publications in the UK, France, Canada and Japan. He made animation for Nickelodeon and MTV Europe.
He is good at developing concepts and he is quick in execution. He hates to draw someone else’s idea!
He made an international best seller picture book called Zoom, which is published in 18 countries. It is used in many formats: as a school book in Argentina, where teachers use it to teach perspective to kids, as a reference for managers, praised by doctors and loved by Buddhist monks.
Istvan was honoured Professor Emeritus of his old alma mater: The Moholy-Nagy University of Art in Budapest.
Someone said: “It is not an it, unless it is an observed it.” So I can only see, what makes sense to me.
If I am lucky to have that, immediately a picture comes to mind.
Now I just have to draw it.
Try to get as close to that imaginary thing as possible.
it is all imitation, a semiotic game…a play from there.
It also works as therapy and keeps me out of jail!
My work is an organic combination of turn-of-the-century Viennese Retro, injected with American pop, some European absurdity added for flavour, served on a cartoon-style colour palette…
But absolutely no social realism added. 10% inspiration 90% sweat. 100% natural.