Art Is a Way of Life for Accomplished East Hampton Painter Ava Rado Harte

For Ava Rado Harte, art has always been a major part of who she is, in one way or another.

“Art is a continuous way of living,” she says.

A native of Budapest, Hungary, the accomplished artist now spends her days at her home in East Hampton, where she works on paintings of nearby golf courses. She grew increasingly fascinated with the golf courses when the pandemic first hit, and she wanted something to do.

“I drove around and took visual notes,” she says, explaining that the “visual notes” she refers to are photos she takes with her iPhone. Photography is just one of her many types of works over her career. She has also taken part in filmmaking, event organizing and exhibit curating. One might think that her paintings are an exact replica of the photos. Yet that is not how Rado Harte approaches painting.

“I’m not a realist, and I’ve never been a realist either,” she says. Rado Harte considers herself more of an expressionist. Many of her paintings, including the golf courses are based on interpretations from her own memory, as well as a reflection of present feelings and emotions.

“All my paintings are my life events,” she says.

October 23, 2023 marked 67 years since the revolution began in Budapest. She recalls what the scenes were like at that time. “I was too young, and my mother did not let me go outside the next day,” Rado Harte remembers. “When I did go outside with her, we saw dead bodies in the streets.”

Exactly one month later, 15-year-old Rado Harte moved with her family to New York. She learned English upon attending NYU, where she studied interior design. It was there that she got her start as an arts administrator, at the Vorpal Gallery SoHo in New York City.

Rado Harte would go on to travel across the country and the globe throughout her life, yet it was her next chapter that would become the focal point for many of her works. She moved to Miami Beach in 1989, which had a more prominent art scene. She continued to produce her own art, with many of her works representing the culture of the region.

Her impact in Miami doesn’t stop there, though. She opened the RADO Gallery in 1990. It was here that she was able to showcase the work of many other talented artists as well. This includes the Graffiti Is Art exhibition, which gained widespread attention. Many people didn’t consider graffiti to be a form of art at that time, but the exhibit inspired the creation of a task force to help kids put their talents to use, rather than defacing property.

One interesting note about Rado Harte is that she feels she can’t focus on managing a community gallery, while working on her own art at the same time. “You can only wear one hat at a time,” she shares.

In addition to giving other artists a platform to showcase their work, Rado Harte has also done a lot to give back to those who are less fortunate than her. In 1995, she was inspired to create the Center of Emerging Art, which creates programs for those with disabilities. “I give back because I’ve been given so much in life, and a lot of people have not,” she says.

Rado Harte has also raised money for causes such as cancer research. She often donates paintings to this cause, rather than selling them. She feels that if she worked solely for money, she wouldn’t feel as fulfilled. “I don’t believe in painting for money, because any artist who paints for money becomes very stuck,” she says.

She takes pride in the unique styles of her art. For now, that means continuing to work on her golf course-inspired creations, where she pays much attention to detail, often going far past the paintbrush.

“That’s what makes me good,” she says. “That I go beyond.”