Who doesn’t like graffiti, or shall I say - street art?
If it's you then you're in trouble!
Lately there has been a sense that street art is taking over Tel Aviv. It is not only on the streets, especially in the south of the city, where you can see almost every wall covered with street art, some are better than others. In recent months, street artists have also occupied the galleries and exhibited "white cube" exhibitions, which are the opposite of street art on the street. There are times when it does not work because what looks amazing and surprising on a wall of a building on a street corner does not necessarily leave the same impression when it is displayed on a framed canvas in a gallery. In my opinion, the trick is not to do the same things as on the street, but to develop the artistic language so that it will convey the message in other mediums as well. Below I bring you some examples of exhibitions that were recently exhibited in Tel Aviv (and one which is still on).
Pop-Up Museum
First, I would like to invite you to visit the museum. A Pop-Up Museum, which was established on Namir Road, is free but limited in time - if you do not hurry and visit until Saturday you will miss it, because next week it will be destroyed.
Instead of the old building, a prestigious tower will be built here, but beforehand, 90 Israeli street artists (and some from the world) have been invited, each assigned a room or a wall, to paint and create. The credit for this initiative goes to artist Yaara Sachs, who managed to get the sponsorship of the "City People" company along with several other companies.
The result - 1 building, 4 floors, 12 apartments – is no less than amazing!
Truth to be told, not all artworks are at the same level, different styles sometimes collide, but the overall result is simply fun and beautiful. I urge you to indulge yourself with a 45-minute visit this weekend to experience one of the coolest experiences this city has to offer.
Surely, I could not show everything here, but here's a little taste to stimulate your senses if you are not yet convinced:
First, respect to Yaara Zacks, the artist and entrepreneur, which also created two thought-provoking walls in the use of a paste-up technique, which allows the artist to create in the studio and paste the work on the wall.
I really liked Guy Hayut's room, which invited us to a last and surreal dance, all hand-painted with delicacy and interesting color.
One of the stars here is BINKSY (which takes a take-off on Banksy and Mister Doodle), which created an entire space here in his recognizable style.
TAG's protest is very relevant in these days of post-elections (I wish I had better pictures). The image of the washing machine from which the news flows continuously is very accurate in my opinion.
The lyricism of the SQUARE / URBAN LEGENDS room stayed with me even after I left the building. Something about it felt like a dream to me.
Hagara Stuff created a paste-up exhibition-like space in which flowers burst from women's faces. A little creepy but well done.
MARSHAL ARTS came here from Hamburg and painted on the staircase walls a Japanese urban legend. Just beautiful!
Of course there are many more but you will have to come and see for yourself.
Meanwhile in the galleries ...
Hezi Cohen Gallery recently exhibited KLONE, a well-known street artist working in Israel and abroad. KLONE’s mastership of spray painting creates great effects, while the subject of the works is quite morbid, critique of modern life.
Adam Yekutieli, known by his street name "Know Hope," presented at the time at the Gordon Gallery. His works are not limited to two-dimensions and he creates in different mediums. The delicacy and small scale of some of the works is almost surprising in contrast to the prevailing conception of street art, to teach you that good street art is not always colorful, loud and large.
Last week, Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery opened an exhibition by Dede and Nitzan Mintz, a couple of street artists, each of whom has a unique artistic language that is easily identifiable, and they often create together. Nitzan's text works are always original and thought-provoking poetry that is presented in a way that makes it difficult to read, as if she requires us to make an effort. Dede "builds" animals, like the bird and the deer, from tree cuttings freely and interestingly. The combination of the two is great.
In this exhibition, the couple made an homage to the old Tel Aviv houses that were demolished in order to build new towers. They took doors, shutters and other objects from these buildings and gave them new life as a work of art that shows what no longer exists.
