Street art in Budapest has always been of great significance. Art is not only what we see, it is not only made to please the eyes, artists seek to convey meaningful messages, art can communicate ideas and feelings. Art can be interpreted in so many different ways and it also is a great source to understand a nation’s culture and spirit. During the communist era Hungarians have developed a sixth sense to decode messages hidden in art, literature and music, messages that communist censorship tried to cancel.
Contemporary street art in Budapest is playful, symbolic and it makes you think. Storytelling is still the most important function, together with aesthetics but we see the concept changing, we recognise new language, new shapes, new design and new forms. And we welcome the new creators with innovative ideas.
Mykhailo Kolodko is a young artist of the new generation. He was born in Ukraine, studied monumental sculpture at the Lviv Academy of Arts and moved to Hungary with his family in 2017. Although he studied and was originally interested in monumental art, he became popular for his mini-sculptures both in Uzhhorod, Ukraine and in Budapest. His opinion is that the time of centrally planned and determined art is over, art today should reflect the interests of the artists and the people. His self definition and inspiration is that “even in small form it is possible to depict monumental idea”.
Locals tend to call his art guerrilla sculpture, as the bronze mini-statues pop up unexpectedly at public spaces without permission. Everybody loves treasure hunting, so it is no surprise that the statuettes quickly gained popularity to such extent that certain pieces were stolen. Others are treated as humans and people often dress them up in the cold winter months. They are small, about 10-15 cm each, the concept is that large-scale statues are also created in small size first, also, Kolodko says that the small size gives him a lot of advantages in speed, mobility, value and confidence.
I love the symbolism of Kolodko’s art. Long forgotten cartoon characters or fairy tale heroes are resurrected, historical moments are revived, other pieces pay homage to famous Hungarian people. The statuette itself, its location, its appearance, they all tell you a story. There are quite a few of them located in the city centre of Budapest and I’m happy to introduce them to you on a Budapest tour. Here are a few of my favourite Kolodko mini-sculptures:
- The Sad Tank is a Russian tank facing Parliament that reminds us of the 1956 revolution, the muzzle of the tank is down and is of the shape of an elephant trunk indicating the war is over (2017).
- The Rabbit with the Checkered Ears is the main character of a very popular Hungarian animated children’s series in the 1970’s. The rabbit is located on top of Castle hill and is enjoying the UNESCO protected Budapest panorama (2018).
- Emperor Franz Joseph in a Hammock is a great metaphor of the emperor re-conquering in a peaceful way the Liberty bridge that was originally named after him (2021)
- There Was Only One Dog Fair in Buda, a very popular folk tale taking us back to the time of Hungarian king Matthias. There are many folk tales inspired by the great king and about how he always rewarded the good people and punished the bad. You can recognise the Hungarian breeds like the puli and the vizsla.
- Kermit the Frog from the Muppet Show is sitting in front of the former headquarters of the Hungarian national television.
I wish you good luck to locate as many Kolodko statues as you can, it is not always easy because of their size, in Hungary you can find them in Budapest, Vác, Veszprém, Tihany and Eger, they might pop up in other countries as well, like Italy or Germany. You can learn more about Mykhailo Kolodko and his art here and find out more about his mini-statues on Facebook.
