Alex Kolozsy

Alex Kolozsy left his native Transylvania for Hungary as a small child. While a student at the Kepzomuveszeti Academy of Art in Gyor he became swept up in the Hungarian Revolution, and had to flee the country for Holland, where he studied for two years at the Rembrandt Academy of Art. He came to Australia at the end of 1958, taking out citizenship in 1964. His first solo exhibitions were held in 1970, a year in which he contributed work to the Captain Cook Bicentenary celebrations and was awarded a medal from the Bicentenary Committee. Since then he has worked steadily on public and private commissions, including the enormous Christ Victorious for St Brigid's Cathedral, Dubbo (3.65 m high) and the Pioneer Woman in the Jessie Street Gardens, Circular Quay (3m high). Between 2002 and 2004 citizens of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads staged a strenuous fund raising effort to realise a long-held dream of Kolozsy's, a massive statue of The Wild One, Johnny O'Keefe, that now towers over the Twin Towns. Kolozsy has exhibited regularly in Sydney and gained a number of local and international awards for sculpture, including the Distinguished Leadership Award for Exceptional Achievement in Sculpture, USA (1986). He has taught in a number of private studios and in 1990-1 was artist in residence at the University of Western Sydney, Richmond. He has a cultural doctorate in visual arts/sculpture from the World University Roundtable in Benson, Arizona, and has been listed in the International Who's Who of Intellectuals, Men of Achievement and 5000 Personalities of the World. He is a founding member and former President of the Hungarian Art Society of New South Wales. His works are held in the collections of Buckingham Palace, the USA Presidential Library, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Australian Museum and the Stockman's Hall of Fame.