Graffiti Tour of Tel Aviv

A few days before I left for Israel I asked Paula, my neighbor, for suggestions of things to do in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. She highly recommended taking a Graffiti Tour of Tel Aviv. It turned into one of the highlights of my five-week journey. I only wish I could have stayed until the end of the tour, but between it starting late, and having to meet the rest of the group at the airport, I had to skip out early.

The tour was run by Abraham Hostels. We were to meet our guide at 4:30, but the guide to get us to the guide (I faced this in Jerusalem, too) was late. When he finally showed up he put the four of us (me and a family of three from New York) in a taxi with no further instructions. We arrived at the appointed intersection only to find several other tour groups gathered. After asking around, we found our group and away we went.

Abraham Hostels offers the tours in two different neighborhoods: Florentine and Nahalat Binyamin depending on the day of the week. My tour, led by Shy, was in the Florentine district.

The tour was fairly non-stop, especially for such a hot day. 

Shy asked us to differentiate between graffiti and street art. What it boils down to is not the style of the art, but the legality of it. Graffiti art is "art in the public domain, which is illegal," and street art is "art in the street, which is legal and authorized."

Unlike the United States, Israel is not known for gangs. People who do graffiti in Israel tend to be artists wanting to get their name and art out there. Not for the first time did I think of Don's mom (Honey Bunny) and her late-in-life appreciation of graffiti. She was with me in spirit on this tour.

One of the first pieces we looked was described as an homage to Banksy, who is perhaps the most famous graffiti artist in the world. This piece (with the heart balloons) is by Kislev. The legs are part of a Banksy picture. It is as if the artist is saying "I am trying to follow you." 

This brings up the question, in this day and age with so many cameras all over the place, how does someone create graffiti without getting caught?

They are often done at night, and in this case with a stencil to keep it quick. 

The artist signed his name, so why isn't he caught?

Unless an artist is caught in the act, there is no proof it is him (someone else could have signed his name).

We were told to look up for the next piece of art: a band-aid. Dede paints band-aids all over the city as if he is trying to fix Tel Aviv, or maybe it is because of the trauma he faced from his military service. In either case, it is his signature.

We talked about several different styles of graffiti:
1) Stencil
2) Freehand (with spray paint, for example)
3) Stickers

Revzzz is famous for the sticker method.

Shy asked us why people do graffiti?
For most it is to be seen and to mark their territory.

We went into a community garden filled with art, a quiet space for the locals. Shy showed us a piece of artwork that changed since the last time he gave the tour. That happens.

Some art is site specific, such as this one of monochromatic girls plus an add-on


by Ame 7\\. In this case, the wall chose the art instead of the art chooising the wall. The candy cane painted on a pipe is another example of site specific.

In Israel many of the graffiti artists are women, which broke my impression of graffiti artists. Shy did say that is non common globally.

Eggplant Kid, epk, is another famous local graffiti artist. He paints eggplants in

odd places. Then another artist started mimicking his art by painting carrots around the city. epk was not happy and started covering the carrots with eggplants. 

Mitzger then painted carrot juice in homage to the fallen carrots. Here is

one of a carrot with angel wings and a halo to help him get into heaven.

A little territorial?

Once you see epk's (and others) art, you notice it all over the place. Wishing I had more time in Tel Aviv to wander the streets and study the graffiti art. If you are reading this and thinking about going to Tel Aviv I recommend going on this or a similar tour earlier in your trip so you can play spot the art.

Much of the art is political, which went way over my head, though I appreciated the tour.

Yaffet at the age of 62 became one of the oldest graffiti artists. She hangs braids with googly eyes. Again, made me think of Honey Bunny who became attracted to art in her 80s.

A piece by Senor Gi with the worlds "I decided to save the world today" at 10-15 years old is considered to be one of the oldest pieces of

graffiti art in Tel Aviv.

We passed a bar with what looks to be covered in graffiti, but it is street art because it was

commissioned.

At this point I am running out of time to meet Julie to catch a taxi to meet up with the group at the airport. I have absolutely no idea where I am, or how to get to where I need to be. The tour does not seem to be wrapping up, either.

Not a good feeling.

I speak up and Shy encourages me to stay a little longer. 

I'm glad I did.


The next spot is what is dubbed as a "graffiti workshop." People are allowed to paint over each other and around each other and experiment with drawings. There is one home that is blank because it has a sign on it asking artists to leave their place alone.

You can smell the fresh paint in this area.

The next time Shy returns, it will look completely different, making it fresh for him, too.

Time to join everyone else for the start of our adventures.