Colorize The City

From the beginning of August to the end of September, Budapest was made even more beautiful than it has been for decades. Budapest it seems has a Színes Város Festival, an arts and music celebration featuring more than 100 programs, which we were not even aware of; however, street artists joined in the fun this year.

They produced ten new wall murals around the city, covering unsightly cement walls. I have not looked for all of them, but there are two on our block. You can find all of the murals and brief stories about the artists by clicking here.

Both of the Akácfa murals seem to be themed partially on rampage, yet the artists were from different countries. The “Chill vagy tombolás” (“Chill or rampage”) mural reminds me of E.T. The artist is from Poland. While the swallows on the opposite side of the building are entitled “Nyugalom, vagy tombolás” ("Calmness or rampage”). 

Rampage was not a theme to be followed; other murals do not have rampage assoications.

I have seen about 7 of the 10, only because I don't want to hunt them down. It is more fun to happen upon them as an unexpected surprise.

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Color Me Abstract

There seems to be an evolution of public murals being painted on sides of buildings. Bland, grey concrete walls are being transformed into visually appealing masterpieces. 

There are a few around that are magnificently realistic causing the observer to take a second look before realizing it is a painted surface. 

Most recently, we witnessed the scaffolding being assembled on our street, within our block. This is the result. It is modern, abstract, interesting mix of colors; it reminds me of E.T. 

In Progress

Completed project

On the opposite side of the building, another painting is in progress. I will be curious to see the result.

Mural 2 just starting

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Scott the Artist

Scott, our artist in residence left us today. After he finished the mural in the kitchen, he continued on to do a portion of the ceiling in the entry hallway. Yesterday, he tweaked the mural a bit more.

He was with us for the ten days we agreed upon for the mural, then two of the additional ten for the ceiling. He is returning to Istanbul, so we will give him an I.O.U. for the balance of the time.

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Artist in Residence

We had a call from one of our booking agencies a couple of days ago. They had a man who needed a place to stay starting that night. We had the large room free and the man came over a couple of hours later. He initially booked for four nights. He is an American (US) who has been livingin Istanbul for the last one and 1/2 years. He is a painter and showed us hisportfolio. He had some excellent pieces and we ohhed and ahhed over his work. Over the course of his four days, he mentioned that the kitchen felt 'set apart' from the rest of the flat due to the change of colors on the wall from the hallway. He continued to say that though it was a common space for guests, it did not feel inviting. His suggestion was to do a large mural on one wall. We liked his idea, but his US rates are $650. a day and the wall would take two and 1/2 days to complete. He offered to do it in exchange for 10 more nights of living. We took him up on the offer. Since he has 10 days, he has been a bit slower to finish than expected, but the basic mural was completed in one and a 1/2 days. The rest of the time, he spent studying it and adding final touches here and there. It is amazing and makes the room look so different. He is putting the absolute finishing touches on it today.

His goal is to trade his work for stays in as many countries in Europe as possible. There is a commission waiting for him in Croatia and he was offered a commission here for a new Turkish towel shop that is opening up in a couple of weeks. Once he is finished and has the time to sit down with me, I will be adding a page to our website of his work and a link to his e-mail. We would like to assist him in fulfilling his goal.

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