Bukta Imre

Opening: 2026 on March 5 at 18 – Godt Gallery (Bartók Béla út 11-13).

Opening: Horváth Csaba, theatre director

Open until April 25: from Tuesday to Friday 10–14, and on Saturday 10–13

Bukta Imre: Christmas cactus (2026.)

Imre Bukta (born 1952) lives and works in the village of Mezőszemer in Heves County, and is regarded as one of the most influential figures in contemporary Hungarian visual art, with a significant international reputation. He has appeared several times at the Venice Biennale, exhibited at the São Paulo Biennale, and his works have been on view – among others – at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Bozar in Brussels, MűvészetMalmö in Szentendre, the Landesmuseum in Linz, the Jyväskylä Art Museum, the Lundi Kunsthall, and the Millennium Museum in Beijing. His first retrospective was organised by MODEM in Debrecen in 2008. It was followed by other major, highly anticipated survey exhibitions, such as the 2012 exhibition at Műcsarnok, the 2019 show at the Kieselbach Gallery, and the 2022 exhibitions held at the Godot Institute, each accompanied by a key book. Bukta Imre has been an artist at the Godot Gallery since 2004.

Bukta Imre: Wedding Hall Viewers (2025.)

Her career as an autodidact artist began in the 1970s. Her art is closely linked to the lifestyle and culture of rural Hungarian people who work in agriculture. From the outset she has taken the objects, places and characters of everyday toil as her subjects, for which she uses the widest range of media: In her canvases she freely incorporates any natural material that comes into her hands—fur, wood, corn, tiles, match‑sticks, etc.—assembling them in an assemblage‑like fashion. In her objects, installations and performances she juxtaposes the everyday utilitarian tools of peasant material culture, or constructs singular visual‑mechanical structures from them. Her portraits, compositions and scenes can be read as distinctive sociological studies; nevertheless, opposed to an external, detached analytical gaze, Bukta perceives and conveys this peculiar, bittersweetly accented world from within. Her perspective shifts between irony and melancholy, at times social criticism or indulgence, but always approaching her subjects with exceptional empathy.

Bukta Imre: Filthy pig (2025.)

Imre Bukta’s latest (2025-26) canvases deal with the domestic and wild animals that were once typical of the Hungarian countryside, and of course, with us – the people of today. What if, on a bright country evening, we met a cow about to return home and a pig glowing amber‑gold, happily grunting? In the village where the artist lives, there is no longer a single cow; yet he paints in a former cattle stable – the glow is unavoidable. New scents, different smells, sounds, and people. The canvases fuse deeply ingrained childhood memories with the realism of the present. A visitor who steps into the Godot Gallery can encounter Bukta’s masterpieces, rich in painterly innovation and a distinct atmosphere.

Imre Bukta (born 1952) lives and works in the village of Mezőszemer in Heves County, and is regarded as one of the most influential figures in contemporary Hungarian visual art, with a significant international reputation. He has appeared several times at the Venice Biennale, exhibited at the São Paulo Biennale, and his works have been on view – among others – at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Bozar in Brussels, MűvészetMalmö in Szentendre, the Landesmuseum in Linz, the Jyväskylä Art Museum, the Lundi Kunsthall, and the Millennium Museum in Beijing. His first retrospective was organised by MODEM in Debrecen in 2008. It was followed by other major, highly anticipated survey exhibitions, such as the 2012 exhibition at Műcsarnok, the 2019 show at the Kieselbach Gallery, and the 2022 exhibitions held at the Godot Institute, each accompanied by a key book. Bukta Imre has been an artist at the Godot Gallery since 2004.

1114 Budapest, Bartók Béla Road 11-13.