When walking through the streets of Tel Aviv you might find yourself looking at bold colored murals, fierce political messages and individual stories … all of which have been expressed through a spray can. Artists from all over the world: Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, you name it- come here to Tel Aviv to showcase their art in front of the eyes of your everyday passerby. Street art in Tel Aviv rose to popularity in the 1990’s following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. And since then, it’s become a popular way for artists to show what’s on their minds and in their hearts.
We reached out to the city of Tel Aviv to find out how they deal with street art, what is permitted and what is considered to be simply defacing property. The municipality of Tel Aviv has received 952 complaints since the beginning of 2023. Lev Tel Aviv, in English we would say the Heart of Tel Aviv had 103 complaints (The city considers Sheinkin / Allenby / Rothschild and surrounding areas to be the heart. Over in south Tel Aviv in the Neve Shanan neighborhood there were 68 complaints. Everyone who has gotten in touch with the city for a graffiti related incident is asking for it to be removed. Graffiti and street art is treated the same in every neighborhood and, by its nature, is temporary as artists continue to use the same spaces for their work.
The Israel Daily News Podcast spoke with artists to find out how street art has impacted their lives.
The first was Guy Bloom, a renowned traveler and artist. He says he’s inspired by cartoons from the 1990’s like Beavis and Butthead or Ren and Stimpy. Despite currently residing in Switzerland for a one year expedition, Guy claims territory on the streets of Tel Aviv. You can recognize his art by his signature paintings that emphasize facial features like big lips or bulging, asymmetric eyes. His works are vibrant and mixes pigments from opposite sides of the color wheel. Once you’ve seen his work, you’ll find it hard to miss all the rest of his pieces on the streets. He showcases his posters and offers work for commission.
Guy Bloom describes,
“You always get connected with other artists that share the same passion for it. It’s the best, it’s not even just Israel. It’s like a worldwide community of artists that do it and they always I always find myself like I don’t know staying a night getting hosted by artists going out together to paint to have a beer.”
Artists we spoke with say painting on the street is not only a risk in terms of public approval, but it’s also taking a risk by hedging bets against law enforcement. In the state of Israel, graffiti or street art is not permitted. Graffiti is typically spray paintings of words and signs whereas professionals argue street art are more developed expressions that resemble more full paintings.
Elinoy Kisslove is the founder of Grafi-tiyul Street art tours in Tel Aviv and says she loves to bring curiosity to lesser known areas of the city. Grafitiyul is one of the many street art tours you can take in Tel Aviv to learn about the creative processes the artists are willing to share with the public. She also says putting her work up for public display is worth it, if it means she can express herself and bring an emotional response from viewers.
Elinoy Kisslove recalls,
“So once I got caught by the police and spent the night in the police station, and they opened like a criminal record and so on, I had lots of hours to think of what I did, and to be mad at myself, but then I realized after a few hours that it was worth getting caught by the police because the message I had was really important. And if it means I had to stay the night in the police, it’s worth it because I know that after it made a lot of impact.”
Kisslove did not want to comment on what her mural looked like. She says it’s important to keep some ambiguity around her identity so that people can separate the work from the person. She specifically did not want to be identified by her gender or religious affiliation.
Street artists we spoke with say the lively art community of Tel Aviv is growing each day.
Solomon Souza comes from a long line of creative arts and says he is inspired by his grandfather, F.N. SOUZA. F.N was celebrated in his native India, where he was one of the founders of modern Indian art. Souza also says that street artists have quote “rules” when it comes to respecting people’s homes and properties to ensure no damage is done. Nevertheless, he thinks a little splash of paint doesn’t hurt.
Solomon Souza explains,
“I see people, we invest ourselves into their businesses and there’s no like, you know, there’s definitely limits like you don’t want to there’s definitely there is there is a line between vandalism and kind of legitimate kind of painting in the street. Like I think like you know, the street facing walls. Street facing walls. They belong to the city anyway, that don’t actually belong to the private owner.”
You can find Souza’s work around Tel Aviv on streets like Washington Boulevard or Florentin Street in the neighborhood of Floren. You might also see his paintings at the Shuk in Jerusalem, where he recently completed several murals for the 100-year-old market.
Assaf Eshel of the municipality urges artists to submit an application to the Committee for Art in the Public Space to create street art with no risk of being confronted by law enforcement. Meanwhile, Souza noted that working with the municipality has been a long and painful process in the past, but recently they have been more tolerable.
One thing artists say is that you can see a difference in the art based on the neighborhood you’re in. Florentine’s grunge vibe is totally different from the classic Neve Tzedek where you can find more contemporary and abstract pieces painted on the public walls and buildings. Artists hope their works give each neighborhood a unique feel.
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