Biography - In 1956, when Ivan Kende was ten years old, his family fled Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution. He instinctively took to drawing immediately after arrival in the U.S. Within a couple of years he was studying figure drawing at The Art Students’ League then entered the arts program at Pratt Institute. Sensing academia as to constricting, in 1966, Kende set out on a course of independent studies dedicating him self to an extensive study of art history and experimenting with many different media. His original ambition was to convey a literal interpretation of the world through figurative painting. In the early 1990‘s, Kende developed his own style of acrylic painting using precisely controlled textures in very sparse, monochrome compositions, as well as his signature Conte drawing series. These techniques became a visual language with which to examine and describe the nature of primordial impulses and archetypes. Holding to this train of thought, he has recently embarked on a series of large mixed media drawings on canvas that are also the basis for an ambitious sculpture series. Kende’s work is represented in private and public collections throughout the United States and abroad.