János Balázs (Alsókubin, 1905- Salgótarján, 1977) started painting in 1971, at the age of 66. The originality of his works, his distinctive way of looking at things is enthralling. His pictures reveal a unique world in which we can see numerous elements of our every-day life, fantastic visions, and impressions. Ida F. Mihály writes: "His pictures capturing the mysteries of being, his idyllic fairy tale landscapes, his archaic visions stirred attention because his art was completely void of academic traditions."

All this knowledge comes through both his writings and paintings very forcefully. He lived in a Gypsy shanty, uneducated, learning by himself, gathering, ripening his memories. He continued to form and shape his thoughts and images until they found their way to be expressed in his paintings and poems. The pictures, which he envisaged as on old man, were put on all sorts of garbage, pieces of wood, broken galss, cardbord, cloths torn of trousers and shirts, or planks received from children, and were coloured by remnants of paint, chalk, pencil or tempera.

János Balázs was and remains to be a unique phenomenon in Hungarian and international world of painting. He worked out a distinctive language than nobody can repeat. It was barely some years that he spent actively working. His poentry and painting did not develop by accident. He painted like a grownup who always remained a child. This is how he could see and show the world, with fantastic colours, animals, landscapes and people.

Adapted the text of Dr. med. Róbert Vajda