We have been actively engaged in the various aspects of Budapest's street art culture for a while now. We looked around in Andrássy Avenue among many places, but we never really got closer to what really lies behind the urban arts. Now there is progress on this front: luckily, we ran into two rather active community artists, Halr and infopapa an Telep, who showed us how they make their stickers and soon after placed them on the neighborhood's empty surfaces.
During the spontaneous workshop, Halr made different typographical 'installations' that were based on precisely fabricated and constructed plans, and infopapa drew his random feelings on a sticker roll 'borrowed' from Spar. Unlike Halr's more accurate geometric patterns -often structured with the help of a spirit level and ruler - infopapa's works represents a so-called neo-primitive style: his stickers reflect our world in a simple, amorphized way, that he edited in a positively autistic way. In addition to the efficiency, the boys' toolbox was amazing as well: the table was covered with felts, sprays, multipurpose knives, scissors, rulers, spirit levels, strings, nail polishes and brushes. Naturally, they do not bring so much stuff with them every day, but they always have something in their pockets in case they want to create something.
By the way, these Spar vignettes operate on the same principle as the previously discussed 'Hello, my name is…' stickers - they are rather popular among mail artists, as they are postal stickies that bear a message different to their function. These all can be acquired free of charge, and can be used creatively in public places. Whether this is legal is another question. Let's leave that aside, the most important point here is still self-branding, the citywide presence of the artist that can be measured in terms of reflection of creative resolutions and social phenomena. The guys made 100 stickers within half an hour, and then waited impatiently for a chance to begin the most exciting part: the sticking.
This is the most challenging part: even though by-passers often show interest in the stickers and sometimes even ask if they can have one or two, the authorities do not show openness to the community-forming rough diamonds in most cases. This can result in serious financial penalties, and lockup in more extreme instances. This might seem strange in many cases, since a large part of the stickers - that are not made by artists but similar to them - are better-tolerated advertisements. This reflects the openness towards the consumer society, against which these guys often raise their voice, or rather their stickers. A growing number of companies play on the world of urbansubcultures, since these are underground, cool, and easily branded.
Infopapa told us that authorities once suggested putting stickers on surfaces that are already covered in - naturally, he was not interested in the idea, since he does not find the fine to be high anyway. 'You have to do it naturally as if it was legal, and then no one will notice you. If there is some kind of a trouble, I just say that I have been doing it for a week only, I regret it, and will not do it again. The highest fine I got was 10 000 Forints" - he added.
Halr, on the other hand, had been in slightly worse situations. After a raid similar to a TEK action, he had to stay in a cell for 12 hours and pay some fines. He also got his camera confiscated and did not get it back since.
Street artists do not have it easy anyway, since in this arts field, their works and names do not remain for posterity. They have to stay active at all times, since thanks to the weather, enthusiastic individuals and hard-working KFK employees, the stickers wear off and get painted over frequently, meaning the fading of the artists' reputation. Luckily, Budapest's street art culture is rather strong with plenty of artists - the city's collection is growing bigger day by day so that we can enjoy the artists' self-expression and take inspiration without going to a gallery.
By the way, stickers are not the only medium in the field of street art: some use tiles, paper collage or other equipments.
In Berlin, for example, there is an artist named 'six' (6) who paints on the top of paint buckets and puts them on stop signs. His works are a great example of how street art is not destructive, since the artworks can easily be moved and removed.
