haifa haifa ir amiti

Street art inspires a lot of “kids these days, get off my lawn ARGH” commentary but its getting harder to deny that contemporary art is moving out of hallowed museum halls and into the streets. With the international spray-painting rogue Banksy on the loose, and Louis Vuitton incorporating graffiti into their designs, it cant be long until a local art gang comes to a neighborhood near you. At once subversive and mainstream, commercial and of the people, street art is changing our space bit by bit.

The Haifa-grown group Broken Fingaz are taking a hands on approach to the Arts, capital A intentional. Not interested in thinking inside the box, this ragtag group of Israeli street artists have their fingaz in all sorts of cookie jars- music, street art, and fashion. Their home base is Masada Street*, where they have a nook of a store stocked with original print T’s, little stuffed monsters, and killer kicks.

Broken Fingaz intense designs are disturbing and fantastically beautiful. Rendered in exacting detail, their layered imagery is a mosh pit of cultural references and painting styles. Of course, their artwork is not limited to the medium of paint- I also saw an awesome tape installation on the Carmel subway stairs. If you stopped in your downward rush toward the train and looked upwards, a meticulously applied pattern of scotch strips revealed a reclining older gentleman, puffing away on his pipe. As well as all these visual art shenanigans, they are also involved in organizing concerts at the local underground venue City Hall. This venue is conveniently located right next to Wadi Nisnas, a old Arab neighborhood which is basically an open air art gallery.

an ode:
band of painting rogues
splash create deconstruct build
transmute space- art alters

*note to the intrepid wanderer: should hunger strike you on your path, stop for sustenance at Puzzle Café. Sit on the outside pillows and order a shakshuka and an absinthe (for the alice-in-wonderland-thrill of sipping an aqua hued drink that was only recently aflame)