Meet Attila Höfle: Your Local Connoisseur of Budapest’s Street Art Scene
This is a guest blog!: With a heart rooted in Budapest and an eye for vibrant street art, Attila Höfle is your local guide extraordinaire.
As the founder of the unique walking tour company, Budapest Flow, Attila uses his insider knowledge to lead street art tours throughout the city, sharing his love and deep appreciation for Budapest’s dynamic urban art scene with both locals and tourists alike.
Portrait of Angel Sanz Briz mural
Artist: Okudart
Okuda San Miguel (Okudart) is a Spanish surrealist street artist and sculptor. Okudart is famous for his style of colorful geometric patterns that portray animals, skulls, and human figures.
His mural is dedicated to Spanish diplomat Ángel Sanz Briz (often called the “Spanish Schindler”), who saved as many as 5,000 Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust in 1944. The mural is located in the former Jewish Ghetto of Budapest. The Spanish embassy in Hungary supported the artwork.
Motivation is a Wonderland mural
Artist: Dan Ferrer
This is a piece from Spanish graffiti genius Dan Ferrer. It depicts an Alice-in-wonderland-esque child who has grown too big for the house she kneels within. If you’ve read or seen Alice you’ll recognize this as an interpretation of events from the story.
Alice is on the verge of growing up and is facing uncomfortable changes as a result. That is one of the points that Ferrer drives home with this piece. You’ll notice the plate of chocolate chip cookies in the bottom right-hand corner of the gigantic painting
The Rubik’s Cube mural
Artist: Neopaint
The Rubik’s Cube is an iconic Hungarian invention by Ernő Rubik, so it makes sense you’d have it immortalized on a Jewish District firewall, showing the iconic puzzle painted in 3D pointillist form, created from hundreds of radiating and colorful dots.
This is perhaps one of the most famous murals by Neopaint, an urban art collective. The artist says the piece reflects on the fact that in life “there is always a solution – not just one” – just like the Rubik’s Cube.
Paste-ups by 0036Mark
Artist: 0036Mark
0036Mark is a paste-up artist from Budapest, in his street art pieces the cartoon characters of the communist era come back to life spiced up with contemporary pop-cultural allusions. The artist’s creative paste-ups mainly focus on the ’70s-80s Hungarian animated tv-series and movies from VHS movies.
“What I do as street art is both parody and nostalgia at the same time, in which the works of this period (like my memories from childhood) get mixed up in my head. I merge the characters together as if this all was some big continuous film.” – as Mark said in an interview.
0036Mark’s paste-ups can be found mostly in the 7th district of Budapest (also known as the Jewish Quarter of Budapest), or in the downtown area.
His pieces became very dear to the citizens of Budapest, as often they make people smile with references to local anecdotes.
It’s the case of the paste-up of the first democratically elected Hungarian President of the Republic and Duck Tales’ characters. In 1993 the broadcasting of Disney’s cartoon was interrupted to announce the death of President József Antall, an episode that unlocks the memories of more than one generation of Hungarians.
Paste-ups by MissKK
Artist: MissKK
Miss KK’s work is thought-provoking, inventive, and blends so seamlessly into the cityscape.
Miss KK is a mysterious female street artist, who, despite being a locally well-known fashion designer, manages to keep her face hidden by covering her mouth with her hand every time she appears in a photo.
A graffiti and hip-hop lover since her school years, she found her style in the usage of newspapers’ clips and Photoshop, creating dolls.
Her dolls became street art pieces, applied mostly to dilapidated walls, old phone boots, or construction sites. They are collages mixing model faces, fashion brands, and iconic accessories, and they usually carry a message, such as “Too much ego will kill your talent”.
“I used to make the collages out of much fewer photos, now I use at least 50 to make a doll, and they are also much more sophisticated and detailed. I also pay attention and check where each individual detail comes from what brand, and what designer made them, and then I tag all those on Instagram.” – as she said in an interview.
Guerilla mini statutes by Mihály Kolodko
Artist: Mihály Kolodko
The artist was born in Ukraine with Hungarian origins, he graduated from Lviv Academy of Arts. After dabbling in larger sculptures, Kolodko decided in 2010 to devote his work solely to the miniatures he’s now become famous for. Most of Kolodko’s artworks are guerilla sculptures, however, there have been commissions recently.
The majority of his mini statues can be found in the inner neighborhoods of Budapest, hidden away in nooks and crannies on either side of the Danube.
This tiny tank has a connection with the communist area of Hungary, the guerilla sculpture is
located just across the iconic Parliament building.
The small tank symbolizes Hungary’s 1956 revolution, as indicated by the bold white letting “Ruszkik Haza!” (“Russians go home!”) etched on the side of the tank.
As we wrap up this thrilling journey through Budapest’s street art scene, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Attila Höfle for sharing his expertise and passion with us. His love for Budapest and its vibrant art scene is truly inspiring.
If you enjoyed this exploration of Budapest’s street art, we highly recommend following Attila and Budapest Flow Instagram for more local insights and colorful discoveries. It’s a fantastic way to stay connected with Budapest’s thriving street art scene, no matter where you are in the world.
We also invite you to join our Facebook group, Your Street Art Utopia. It’s a wonderful platform to share your own photos, experiences, and passion for street art with a community of like-minded enthusiasts. We look forward to welcoming you and seeing your unique street art captures!
Once again, thanks to Attila for his invaluable contributions to this post. Here’s to celebrating street art, wherever we find it!