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sekler craftsman, folk wood-carver from Odorheiu Secuiesc

   "I am wood-carver Sándor Attila, from Vlahița. Even as a child fascinated me the possibility of shaping the wood. My father was a model carpenter, but I was charmed also by the vision of the sekler carved doors. I began at a very early age the modelling of the wood, then, as a school boy I was attending wood-carver clubs. My first master was the local carver Barabás Lajos. The carving of the folk items was being followed by the carving in relief tehnique. I learned to carve figures earlier than I learned to draw them! I am trying to adapt themes that remained of actuality also today.

  One of the major motifs of my working is the validation of the truth. Since puberty I’ve got familiarized with the hystorical injustice suffered by the Hungarians, this defining the choice of the themes of my message. I am trying to explain, to tell the wiever this with every object carved by me. The hystorical themes, the legends, the folk tales and the search for truth can be considered the fundament of my carvings (Blood Pact, Saint Stephan, Matthias Corvinus the King, The Magic Deer, Hunor and Magor, Matthias with the Geese, The Ballad of Budai Ilona, John the valiant etc.). Besides history, the folk tales and the world of the legends, I consider to be very important the religion, the expression and inspiration of the religion. It this case I do not think at the Church as a institution, but as a person who believes in God, whose church could also be the nature. Every truthful Hungarian has a God.

  Besides the sacral and mythological relief carvings, I adapt also more common themes, as the Drinker, Family, Elderly Couple and small ironical sculptures. Among my work one may find rarely sculptures, because these pass on my message in a more concentrated matter, therefore, sadly, is understood by few.

  I had exhibitions in Vlăhița, Balatonboglár, Odorhei, Debrecen, Pápa. I have been carving an altar illustration for a church engineered by Makovecz, an entry gate in a hunter park, and in the year 2000 I have participated at the funeral columns and memorial pillars showing the important moments of the Hungarian history named as the History Road from Szarvas.

  In the year 2008, I have executed a carved gate with my father as the entrance in the Sóstóthegy, Hungary cemetary. By carving and executing this gate I have received a message which represents the experience of the togetherness of all ”true” Hungarian people, regardless of the borders.

  The true artist wishes to create something specific only to him, wishes to show what he sees only, in a way that has not been seen by someone else, for his work to become, with its specifics, of public fortune. ”

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