– How did you get from Transylvania to the University of Glasgow?
– I was already born in Budapest. My parents are from Transylvania, but they also met here. However, I spent a lot of time with relatives when I was a child. I was fourteen when I decided that I wanted to study and live abroad. I was looking for a place that although is far away, is not yet at the “end of the world”. I also thought it was important to have scholarship training. This is how I chose Scotland and the University of Glasgow, where I began my studies as a biomedical engineer. I already knew before graduation that I was interested in mathematics and biology. I thought it was exciting that this profession examines life itself, through the lens of mathematics. After one year, I changed majors at university: I started studying applied mathematics and statistics, but biology, chemistry and physics are still my favourites to this day. I am currently writing my doctoral dissertation specialising in cancer research.
– Are you a mathematician who paints, or a painter who does mathematics?
– I am a mathematician painter who does mathematics – and paints.
– Where did your love of painting come from in addition to your passion for the natural sciences?
– Since I was a child, I have been drawing various traditional Hungarian folk motifs, such as Kalocsa patterns. I also really liked to combine colours – this can also be seen in my current works. However, for a long time it was just a fad hobby. I really stuck with the brush half a year before high school graduation because of a two-week forced stay at home. Later, I almost went to a fine arts university in Milan. When I went to Scotland for university, I didn’t paint for four months and missed it terribly. I think it was decided there that this was more than just a hobby.
– Do you think there is a parallel between mathematics and painting?
– There definitely is! Firstly, I thought of composition, because proportions can be derived from mathematics. I also have a painting called Fibonacci in Egypt, in which I have hidden the numbers of the Fibonacci sequence. I believe that both visual arts and mathematics come from a higher power of which we are the mediators. For example, if someone discovers something new in mathematics, they do not invent it, they just find something that has already existed, but no one had found it before. I think painting is like that too. You find a feeling, a mood and you convey it to the world.
– Your first exhibition was very soon, half a year after you started painting. Can you tell me more about this?
– It all happened so quickly thanks to a dear friend of mine. I asked him if he could recommend a place where I could exhibit my works. At the time, he had a free space to which I received the keys for two months, so I “moved in” there and started painting. I painted more than half of the pictures on display there, so it can almost be said that the location of the exhibition existed earlier than the pictures on display. I also started selling my paintings there.
– Where do you gather inspiration for your works?
– Actually, from anywhere. If I see a beautifully woven and decorated rug, or I’m hiking in nature, or I’m traveling on a train and I’m staring out the window. You can find everywhere an object, or even a life event that inspires you to create.
– Do you consider yourself an instinctive or methodical painter?
– Absolutely instinctive. For six years I didn’t plan a single painting, I just surrendered to pure instinct, brush and colours. At the same time, I have been trying to add a bit of method to instinct. When I switched from acrylic to oil paint, I started planning the composition a bit more. Nowadays, I also work with a graphics program to check how well each colour fits where I imagined it. So I try to be methodical, but the painting process is an impulsive activity for me.
– How would you describe the ideal creative space for you?
– I imagine a room with a high ceiling, full of flowers and plants. The walls are covered with pictures so that there isn’t even a pinhead left on them. The room opens to a kitchen where I can make coffee at any time – I love to drink coffee while painting. I imagine this space as a part of my home, where I paint a little, then leave, then after a short break I look at my work again – it helps a lot if I can’t see what I painted for a while and come back to it later.
– Which painters’ style enchants you the most?
– Fauvism with Henri Matisse enchanted me very quickly. A bold and rich use of colour is a wonderful thing. I also love Klimt, Schiele and art nouveau in general. In addition, Gothic buildings had and still have a great influence on me: their monumentality with frescoes. I think Caravaggio is brilliant; how accurately he displayed the contrast in his paintings. Among modern artists, apart from those mentioned, Munch is my favourite. But what first swept me off my feet was art nouveau.
The Q&A is based on an interview by Oliver Nemeth:
https://elteonlinenew.elte.hu/kultura/2024/05/02/vegtelen-szabadsag-a-matematikai-szigorban-interju-fulop-borival/