István Harasztÿ (“Édeske”)

Over the years, I’ve gradually established a precise routine. I wake up around 6.30am, have a light breakfast and a cup of coffee and smoke a cigarette as usual. By 7 I’m already in my workshop, listening to Klubrádió and thinking about my next project while I have another smoke. I always have coffee at 9 and talk about the plans for the day with Éva, my wife. I continue work in my workshop from 9.30 until noon. We grab a bite, and afterwards I take a nap until half past one. I wake up at 1.30 on the dot. Then I have some more coffee and work until 5.

I don’t really have a favourite. I have some dear friends whose music I like to listen to, like Pici (Gábor Presser), Tolcsvay or Bródy. I also have a lot of family friends from the classical music world.

I don’t have a favourite book; I don’t read a lot. My own thoughts and daydreams seem to be enough for me.

I haven’t travelled ever since smoking was banned on planes. I simply don’t feel like going anywhere. I don’t go to art events either: I prepared a sign that says that I will not attend any cultural event as long as the current government is in power.

We don’t eat out. The kitchen is really not for me, I don’t even know how to turn the cooker on. But Éva cooks every day.

When I’m in the workshop, I listen to Klubrádió all the time. If someone sends me an article to read on the Internet, I read it. In the evening, we watch ATV.

I don’t read magazines.

Whatever is closest to hand and still fits. :)

When I was a child, I owned a Bocskai suit, but I wouldn’t wear it for the world today.

I’ve been interested in technique since I was eight. The completed painting, the colours and the techniques were important. I was trying to find that connection with art, and it took years before I realized (or was brought to realize) that I was living it. I believed for a long time that art was something I couldn’t do (such as painting a nude). But then, when I was studying at Dési [the Dési Huber Art Circle], they told me that my sculptures were good. Csaba Sík wrote once that “Harasztÿ managed to become an artist because art approached and came closer to him.”

I don’t have a favourite piece. I don’t even know how many pieces I’ve made over my career. I always focus on my works of recent years. Everybody is looking forward to seeing my latest mobile sculptures. I still have a lot to express, both things I like and things that repel me. Now that I feel that I’m slowly running out of time, I don’t have the luxury of spending a lot of time on individual pieces.

I have a great number of friends. I can say with confidence that I’m friends with those who are considered major artists in Hungary. I’m always happy to talk to them. It gives me pleasure if they contact or visit me.

One time, an artist, Judit Ádám, visited me with her husband, Ede Piltz. She asked me why I attended Dési [the Dési Huber Art Circle] as what I was doing, she thought, was art itself.
My master was Ferenc Laborcz and he taught me much more than sculpture. He showed me how to become a true sculptor.
I’d also like to mention János Percz, a metalworker, and Marino Marini and Henry Moore here. And then, by the end of the 1970s, I no longer had any idols because I became an idol myself.

They should live in peace with themselves and others. They should be honest with themselves and those around them. I was a teacher for 12 years and I always told my students that if they lived a consistent and honest life with a single purpose, they would find their place. I’m fortunate because this has been granted to me.