I accept COMMISSIONS FOR PORTRAITS! please check in my blog above for further info.
i love to blog. click on image to go to my
PERSONAL BLOG
WRONGLIPS (my blog with Sarah White)
TRACE BLOG
"MY GAME IS OUTRAGEOUS"
CHECK OUT THE NEW ISSUE OF ONE OF MY ALL_TIME FAVORITE MAGAZINES, "CLAM "! among others, it contains an interview with me ABOUT GROWING UP!
Lichiban was born in Hungary, in a dusty town bordering Transylvania (Romania). From early on, she acquired a fascination with borders, limits and ambiguous dividing lines; her experiences on the margins of cities, countries and subcultures eventually formed into a semi-consistent life philosophy, which continues to inspire her creative development. True to her gypsy heritage, while as a child she moved from one city to another, until she settled in Budapest, her beloved city of decadent beauty and quiet melancholy. In 1996 she moved again, this time to the U.S., and she has been living there since.Her images draw inspirations from a wide range of extraordinary life experiences and impressions, such as her childhood memories of Eastern-European folktales and highly abstract (and often quite baffling) animations; the lessons she learned through meeting exceptional people who became her friends, through finding and losing love, through her studies in Sufism, through her travels to war-torn countries (Bosnia, Kashmir) where she was able to observe the resilience of the human spirit in the face of the worst losses and meet some amazing spiritual healers; through her volunteer work with refugees and trauma victims in the refugee camps of Hungary where she was confronted with some of the extreme limits of human suffering and compassion.“I love and am deeply fascinated by human faces. I think if one truly loves people and the stories they carry, one can attune to the finer dimensions of the face until the facial expressions begin to tell the story of that person. A beautiful person always has a beautiful story and it is true the other way around as well. I am often struck by how much pain I can observe already in small children’s eyes and faces. In my portraits, I strive to achieve the ability to tell stories with faces… stories of grief, loss, terror, rejection, healing, love, birth, or being at peace. The fact that these expressions cut across sexes, races, and cultures, and that I’m able to recognize them as sorrow or happiness is a living proof to me how deeply connected we are humans.Aside from her focal subjects, her works also make use of her somewhat surreal imaginary world she has woven out of her bizarre dreams and even more bizarre fantasies. “The background or context I build for the portraits out of these surreal images is another story I add to the story of the face itself. That is my story... my way of reflecting on theirs.†Her love of densely populated urban spaces (to be around people she gets inspired by daily) is only matched by her fascination with solitary places, especially the desert (as inspiration). Currently, she is living in Brooklyn, NY.She has been featured in CLAM Magazine, TRACE blog, PEP! Magazine blog, Leisure LAB, Dope Swan, and Creative Criss Cross.
"When I first came across Lichiban’s creations, my eyes were glued to the page, and for some unknown reason I felt pulled from my core to browse through her work. Living the way of the Gypsy, this urban flower born in Hungary has spread her wings and left her mark across the world. [...] Her work speaks for itself, and stands out of a wall not only because of its multi-dimensional aesthetic, but also with its texture and color experimentations. This “All we need is love†concept, paired with a unique technique and fascination for the human face makes Licsi the real deal.[...] "My biggest hope is that I can reach a point where the beauty I was trying to capture in my portraits can in fact heal.†This woman is deep." SARAH WHITE , TRACE Magazine///Songstress
"Some people find inspiration from the narrow confines of what is comfortable and familiar. Licsi seems to glow from the color and hue of strangers and resonate in the presences of the unfamiliar. The provenance for her work were the fetid back-roads of Roma villages-in her native Hungary. A despised minority who instill fear and loathing in many were for her a source of inspiration. She found the magic that flowed from their music, anger and trust. Likewise among people in the U.S.-- whom she was asked to avoid when she arrived to these shores-- she has found much to comment on, emulate, criticize and illustrate. People of color, musicians, down on their luck women, innocent children, cocky academicians and struggling journalists (like the writer of this blurb) have all served to give face to her drawings. And we are served in-turn by seeing ourselves reflected in them."
PHILLIP MARTIN /, Independent Journalist, The World (BBC) and Executive Producer, Lifted Veils Productions, Inc.
"Your art work is amazing girlie!!!!" J.D. of THE COMMODORES
"I love your art!" WAAJEED of Platinum Pied Piper & Bling47
You, Lichiban, are a woman of extreme passion and freshness. Nick Frame aka elevator design
"LET JUSTICE ROLL DOWN LIKE WATER"
"Glow I" (Amana Melome)
"Glow II" (Tina)
the only addiction i have... anything from kool and the gang to de la soul, eric b. & rakim, the roots, a tribe called quest, public enemy, guru, j dilla, pete rock & c.l. smooth, fugees, mos def, blackstar, nas, bahamadia, outcast, kon & amir, ALMA NYC, king britt, MAW, dimitri from paris, gotan project, cinematic orchestra, sena, sigur ros, dj spinna, stevie wonder, roy ayers, bill withers, james brown, leroy hutson (he is the man!), marvin gaye, curtis mayfield, gill scott-heron, tavares, earth wind & fire, the coltranes, earth, wind & fire, erykah badu, jill scott, nina simone, sade, portishead, massive attack, joy division, the herbaliser, mark de clive-lowe, cheb-i sabbah, crazy gypsy music (even though that stuff almost gave me nervous breakdown once), afghan, persian, tajik, turkish, indian, tibetan, african folk music, chopin, pergolesi, monteverdi, and bach!oh there is so much more......of course, my incredibly talented friends sarah white, kira, shea, kon&amir, papastomp, dolphin, nappy G!! aside from this, these day i listen to a lot of underground hiphop, soulful house, nujazz, olschool elektro funk (thanks to the source, Greg Wilson) and 70s soul and disco (Kon, thank you for educating me..disco put honey into my life!).
alambrista!, basquiat, frida, kurasowa's dreams, spike lee joints (especially crooklyn and jungle fever), sweet sweetback's baaadassss song, coffy and a lot of blaxpoitation flicks, beat street, wild styles, cooley high, secretary, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, born into brothels, in this world, secretary, 12 monkeys, fight club, crash, requiem for a dream, monster's ball, city of god, hotel rwanda, amores perros, my fav animes: my neighbor totoro (by Hayao Miyazaki), the grave of the fireflies (by Isao Takahata),night on the galactic railroad (by Gisaburo Sugii) and the haunting and/or absurdist movies of luis bunuel, andrei tarkovsky and gabor body, feherlofia, and so many more i can't remember
i don't really watch tv anymore... i prefer art & photography. some of my favorite photographers: Sebastião Salgado, James Nachtwey, Eikoh Hosoe, Hermosdef, Jamel Shabazz & Mike Schreiber, Jack Dante, Graciela Iturbide; artists: Durer, Max Ernst (and other Surrealists), Warhol & Basquiat, Frida Kahlo, Klimt. Some of my favorites from today: designers of the Scrawlcollective (UK) and Tank Theory (US), Sylvia Ji, Audrey Kawasaki, Doze Green, Barry McGee, Yoskay Yamamoto, WK Interact, Heavyweight and my friends' works (Luke Powell, ninerevolutions, Heat, Mohi, Ferb, Problak, Marka27, Kenji Nakayama)
another hard one..kafka borges, toni morrison, bell hooks, antoine de saint-exupery poems of rilke, sandor weores, bela hamvas, lao tse, khalil gibran's the prophet, hafez, rumi (these last three saved my life) and other less known sufis, tantric buddhist texts, and many more rebel mystics' writings. i love ethnic cookbooks (i am a DJ in my kitchen) and collect photography books on nomadic tribes and urban street life and art
all the underdogs out there who manage to save their dignity and to nurture their love of other human beings in the face of discrimination or oppression. people who are willing to be outcasts, to be on the margin for a higher goal and to be able to live a more authentic life...who are not afraid of loving, and believe that human suffering can be healed by action born out of love, and feel the urge to alleviate it. most of these people remain unknown.
this is my way of voting.
"THE REAL ZORRO ARCHETYPE"
"DOUBLE TROUBLE" stayed tuned for more ROOTS playing cards
"THIS IS HOW IT MAKES ME FEEL"
"UNTITLED APPETITE"
"LILI SHIRIN"
"HEARTFLOW"
"HEART SO FULL"
BROOKLYN NEFERTITI ( SARAH WHITE )
CHECK OUT "FROM THE SOURCE"....3 amazing women bringing it form the roots! [flyer design by lichiban]
"TOO HIGH"
PATTERNED VISION I
PATTERNED VISION II
DRESS ME UP WITH FLOWERS
"MENOTSCARYMECANSMILE"
"A BROKEN HEART IS BETTER THAN NO HEART AT ALL..."
"WIND & FIRE"
"METAMORPHOSIS"
"I HEART BEATS"
FOLLOW THE LEADER
LIFE IS GOLDEN LIVING WITH DIAMOND GIRL
"LOVE WITHOUT BORDERS" Benefit Show in San Diego, May 2008 (flyer artwork by lichiban)
my flyer design for FOUNDATION FACTORY...yes yes y'all, you might recognize the inspiration..
"I Heart Beats" will be at the Bridge Art Fair, ART BASEL, MIAMI!
Legends of Style Presents: Surreal City...
'WEREWOLVES KNOW IT BETTER' (design for halloween T-shirt contest)
LIL LICHIBAN