Reality Combinations - urban fantasy on the streets of Budapest - an etching series by Eszter Bocsi

I created this etching series back in 2018 as my final exam project at The Hungarian University of Fine Arts.
At the end of the fifth year, students are required to present an original art project supported by a written thesis. 
The text must contain details of the year-long process, such as explanations of technical choices, theoretical background and artistic intentions.
Based on research, connections to the history of art and the contemporary field are also mandatory to mention.
Finally, students present their works in the form of an exhibition.

Below you can see the photo reproductions of each print that I made.

I used eight copper plates, a different size for each building, following the proportions of the real ones. The plates were shaped by hand with the help of rasps, until they took the form of the houses. 
The size of the smallest plate is 15 x 20,5 cm while the largest one is 33,5 x 55,5 cm. 

The paper size for each print is 60 x 80 cm.

As a person growing up in the countryside in a relatively small town, I've always been fascinated by the atmosphere of bigger cities.
To engage in art studies, I soon found myself moving to the capital of my country, Budapest. That personal experience in itself has left a significant mark on my artistic identity. In my final project, I wanted to transform these impressions into something that can show my relationship to the city and my love for its architecture, haunted by the question: will I ever belong here?

You can see some more work in progress photos from the printing studio below.

This project is mainly built on the act of mixing real architecture and imagination. 
The core of my idea comes from a deeply personal experience with an added distance to the subject.
That is because none of the viewers or the creator becomes directly related to that particular place in reality.
There is longing, endless searching for connection instead. 
It is also slightly about the mechanics of building a fantasy world.
In summary, I have created these works from the perspective of a passer-by. 
The result that can be seen by the viewer is nothing more than the extended or reduced version of reality through the eyes of a second person.

The basis of the concept comes from the experience of being on the way from A to B.
There is always a starting point and a destination, but there is also time in between. 
And time allows the brain to wander, while shreds of reality can still slip through the line.
It is possible to spend years in a city and still not having the knowledge of many of its places. The more I get to see a particular building, the more familiar it becomes. 

After all, I no longer feel like a stranger to that place, and this brings the feeling of relief. 
My relationship with the city changes, and it eventually becomes something people would call home.

However, this word has multiple layers of meaning. While it can be used when talking about one's homeland or even the planet we live on, in its narrower sense home refers to a house.
From this point of view, those buildings surely mean home to particular individuals, but not to the passer-by.
In my work, I intend to play with this duality.
I attempt to portray the stranger's inner fantasy, based upon the outer world. They cannot be separated. I keep adding and removing details until the houses become a mixture of imagination and reality. 

When observed from a distance, the buildings on paper look more like an accurate reproduction of the originals.
One has to get closer to explore the differences. 
By transforming into an alternate version of themselves, they become a selection of fragments surrounded by blank space, ripped out of reality. 

Thank you for viewing!