Sandor Monos was born in Hungary in 1954. During his school years he began to draw and paint under the guidance of local artists and teachers. He always belonged to an Art Club where he enjoyed experimenting with oil, watercolor and charcoal drawing.
In the fall of 1977 he emigrated to Canada where he continued drawing and painting. Sandor took night courses in Hamilton and in Dundas. In the beginning of 1984 he became interested in cartoon drawing. For a few years the local newspaper published his work in the Editorials. In 1993 a local sculptor, introduced him to bronze casting and Sandor served as his apprentice for ten years.
Sandor has been working with the lost-wax method and experimenting new ways to cast bronze economically to achieve the desired surface on the casted piece.
Artist’s Statement:
“I’ve been drawing, carving, painting all my life, perhaps longer. I just don’t remember.
Growing up I had guidance on how to put ideas into form from teachers, friends and the company I kept and valued. What to do seems to come easy to me – so many things around us, things that belong to now. The execution is a long struggle to satisfy myself.
To show what is there is a great skill…But the goal is to go beyond that. The hard part is to cross the line, when you will show more than the reality, and do it with a simple form that you don’t have to explain. The figure is just to manifest the thought. It has no face, because it is an idea…If you do cross the line, it doesn’t mean that you’re on the other side.
I love shaping the piece to the idea … defend it on completion … hear what others see in it. A smile is a great reward! Casting all that work in bronze is a skill. One mistake and I am back with the idea. It tests me all the time.”
