Peter Mester is born in 1950 in Nové Zámky in the former Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia. He studies at the School of Fine Arts in Bratislava (1965-69) with Professor Rudolf Fila, then to that of Budapest (1969-74) in which Victor Vasarely is then professor of honor. He obtains a degree in Textile Art and moves to Prague in 1975. There the young artist lives with difficulty from his painting; he is interested at that time in the art of miniature painting, in illustration and poetry (performing several books of bibliophile), in music. In 1976, the ceiling of his modest workshop collapsed and most of his early work is destroyed.
Engraver in all techniques, painting, fresco, mosaic, draughtsman, weaver (tapestry), designer of cartons for stained glass, Peter Mester is, in these times, an artist of the communist world; for public order, he realizes a painting a year.
These modest means and limited space - his shop is tiny – push him most often to work in small sizes on which he works in great detail.
The year 1989, with the fall of the communist world, sees dramatic changes in his life as in his art. Peter used to say: "I started my life in old age and I continued with the youth! " Artist and with an insatiable curiosity of the world, he goes on a trip and soon discovers Europe driving the old car he manages to acquire.
He discovers the museums, and Michelangelo, and Rembrandt, Bartok, Picasso, Miro, Chagall, Klee, Modigliani and many others that the names of artists he likes scramble in his heart. Becoming a real globetrotter, Peter Mester has repeatedly - even today – traveled and had real life encounters. He goes from country to country, from city to city, from man to man, from projects to accomplishments.
Atypical artist, Peter Mester does not make money more than it is necessary for life. Thus, he belongs to a charity of Nitra in Slovakia (www.alexu.sk ) which helps needy children in his region and his country, donating much of his earnings.
The artist is happy with life, he is not looking for "clients" and those who he works for - creating numerous frescoes - are considered sponsors. His thousand travels brought him to meet Pierre Chabrol, to create recently frescoes and other works for Pierre Richard, then for Gerard Depardieu, he has just spent nearly 3 months in his home (creating a fresco of 120 m2 in the Tigné Castle, production of a portrait of Jean Carmé and others).
Will you cross the path of Peter Mester - fraternal man - in France (in the south, in Normandy or Brittany?), England or Italy, perhaps in Denmark, unless it is somewhere in our galaxy? He lives (8 to 15 days a year!) in Komarno, Slovakia, a small town a hundred miles from Bratislava.