Project Palozzo

With its mix of striking architectural styles and general state of slight dilapidation, the city of Tel Aviv is the perfect canvas for street artists. There's one artist who leaves his signature eggplant sketches on wall corners, and another who brightens up the pavement with his smiling daisies. From small tags to professionally rendered murals spanning entire building sides, street art is definitely a part of Tel Aviv's art scene.

Typically of course, street art is done outside- abandoned buildings, the sides of bus stops, and those retro air conditioner boxes all make for great impromptu art spaces. Street art mixes the high (precise artistic skills) and the low (cheap materials and a low budget gallery space) to make for an interactive and dynamic art form. Street art is spontaneous and of the people, it grabs you as go about your day instead of being tucked away safe behind museum walls. But what would happen if we moved art off the streets and back indoors...

Remember when your mom told you not to draw on the walls? Well a new indoor street art project, Project Palozzo is doing just that with, and producing awesomely creative results. Two illustrators (Zach Cohen and Ori Toor) and a sociology major (Yoav Tamir) are living together in a dilapidated house in Tel Aviv and turning it into a collaborative ongoing art project. According to their sassy little Tumblr, which they frequently update with photographs of their latest creations, the house was built by Yoav's grandfather but was uninhabited for quite a while and fell into a state of disrepair. Now these three are putting their combined skills together, transforming their space by painting, writing and drawing on the walls of their renovation project cum gallery. I wonder what their moms have to say about all this?

Project palazzo - Wall drawing timelapse from ori toor on Vimeo.

ars in tractus

spotted: wall mural in Jerusalem


it could have been twee but I think its location (it is in an observant neighborhood better known for babies and religious schools than artistic touches) saves it, and instead it is charming and unexpected street art

also, I love street art that has an element of audience interaction... in this particular neighborhood (well all over Jerusalem really) people come to observe the old style architecture and particular religious lifestyle, so there is a lot of standing around and picture taking

this sassy lass catches you in the act and gives it right back to you.

sass+art= double win

ars in tractus

golda meir stencil
keren hateimanim
tel aviv


"don't be humble... you're not that great."

-golda


you heard it here first kids. now behave yourselves.

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)