US-Hungarian gallerist comes home to open new studio showcasing top US Pop Art in Budapest

Little prepares you for the cavalcade of colours that assails every sightline as you stroll into the Kolibri Art Studio from the grey façades of Margit körút. The fireworks of contemporary American Pop Art explode at once, the Shags and the Fazzinos familiar to buyers such as Paul McCartney and Morgan Freeman.

Some have been signed in pencil by the artist with a personal message for Bernard, acknowledging a friendship beyond his dedication and insight. All are limited-edition prints – even the non-signed ones may no longer be available in the States.

The nearby buildings will have changed little from the early 1970s, when Bernard Barna Fekete bade farewell to Budapest as a 17 year old eager for escape and adventure. The contents of this homecoming venture not only herald a new direction for the Margit Quarter, swiftly becoming Budapest’s new cultural hub as empty shops turn to galleries, but also echo the excitement Bernard must have felt when arriving in America for the first time.

His journey had begun with a visit by the postman in Paris.

As Bernard explains: “After I fled Hungary I first went to an Italian refugee camp, then I claimed political asylum in France. The French gave me the right of residence and I was looking forward to becoming a Frenchman while washing dishes at a restaurant on the Champs-Elysées”.

A destiny of underwhelming drudgery in the West was brought to an abrupt halt by a postcard.

A few weeks later, they sent word back to Bernard in Paris, still in his teens. In fact, three words. They read: “COME TO CALIFORNIA!”. On the picture was a bright yellow Mustang.

“I thought, ‘Yeah! California, baby! The Beach Boys! Surf!’” he now says 50 years later, hindsight offering the satisfying coincidence that Gardena, home of the original Kolibri Art Studio, is right next door to Hawthorne, home of Brian Wilson and his band of brothers.

But we’re jumping ahead of ourselves.

That postcard in his pocket, Bernard was soon charming the staff at the American consulate in Paris. In no time, he was driving taxis in New York. It was 1972. The Stones were touring, pop had infiltrated the mainstream and opportunities were rife.

Bernard made his way to the Golden State where fortunes were being made in telemarketing. He duly accrued his, bought mansions and Ferraris, then decided to get out while the getting was good. He bought another house by the Pacific in Hawaii, but insular business practices and various wrong turns led Bernard back to California.

“A friend of mine worked in digital publishing and invited me to work on a project with Korg keyboards, a new form of musical notation. It was picked up by church musicians across America, who are mainly self-taught.”

After a tour of the Bible belt, California beckoned once more, this time a position looking after a niche printing business in Gardena. He would go on to run the show for almost 15 years, his role as GM allowing him to fraternise with the world of Pop Art.

The Kolibri Art Studio uses two particular techniques to produce highly accurate, detailed and durable prints of artworks. Serigraphy is a delicate silk-screen process involving isolating each colour to reproduce the original print in meticulous detail, while Giclée printing uses digital pigments to produce vivid and long-lasting copies of museum quality.

Bernard even knows of people who have left Kolibri prints up on the roof, with no damage from that warm Californian sun.

As Pop Art came back into fashion, more and more celebrities began to adorn their homes with contemporary Pop Art, Barack Obama and Tom Cruise among them. Asking prices soared, as did demand for Kolibri’s high-end, limited-edition prints.

Now happily married to Anikó, Bernard began to reconnect with his roots and the city he left 50 years ago. The result is the Kolibri Art Studio on Margit körút, set up with their American partners.

Bernard knows this because he has long-established personal relationships with the three key ones, Shag, Fazzino and Britto, based in California, New York and Miami respectively. He also has exclusive rights to be their sole agents in the region, where their work is being seen for the first time.

“They’re also an affordable investment,” he says, pointing to price tags between €2,000 and €3,000, some 20% below what you might find elsewhere – were they to be available.

Some 60 works await perusal, although such is the clamour on gallery opening night that browsing takes a back seat to schmoozing. Hungarian TV personalities, retro rockers, cultural attachés and the local mayor mingle in a former phone accessory store by the tramlines of ever trendier Margit körút.

Following a welcoming address from District II mayor Gergely Őrsi, Bernard steps up, carefully clutching a bottle almost half his size. He thanks the Haraszthy Winery in Etyek and declares the gallery open with $1,000 worth of Tantara red. After 50 years, celebrations are in order.

While the crowd is a cross-section of Budapest’s movers, liggers and shakers circa 2022, the collection feels like a powerwalk through a Manhattan party scene in Mad Men, after a stroll around Syndrome’s island in The Incredibles.


Sassy likenesses of baby-boomer touchstones – the Moon landing, the Chateau Marmont, the Whisky a Go-Go – unfurl as thin-wristed chicks in leopard-skin skirts sip vodka martinis by the pool. It’s all incredibly cool. There’s a reason why Shag has opened his own store in Palm Springs.

Behind the scenes, literally, Bernard is planning an addition to his new venture, spelled out on the sign above the bright gallery window: Art Deco. Classic film posters, and works by the likes of Norman Rockwell and J.C. Leyendecker, have been reproduced according to the same exacting processes.  

For now, though, Shag, Britto and Fazzino take centre stage, offering an entertaining gallery visit to an ever livelier part of Budapest. You might even find a bargain or two.