Art career
Kiss was inspired to use of bright color in his public art by artists such as Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Gaudi. Many of his graffiti art is in South Tel Aviv, especially Florentin. [11] [12] Untypical among street artists, Kiss used his real name in his work rather than a pseudonym. [13] [14] As his works became "identified by his signature logo of an elf", [1] he began working with cutout stencils, which soon became Kiss' go-to method, mostly for the speed they allowed to complete the painting and leave the scene within minutes. [15]
Kiss substituted the glass bottle with a graffiti spray can, changing the inscription on the bottle from "Drink me" to "Spray me" in capital letters. This large-scale work is in the Neve Tzedek neighborhood using large stencil boards made by the artist in advance. Annika Ramsaier of Goethe-Institut praised the work [16] and art magazines noted its uniqueness. [15] The painting became a symbol of graffiti in the local area as well as the street art scene. [17] [18]
This depicts the witch as it appeared in Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . [19]
27 Club graffiti in Tel Aviv
Kiss' next work, in 2014, depicted seven artists from the "27 Club". [20] Veering away from some of his previous work, Kiss began obsessively researching famous artists who died early, particularly the "27 Club", and began sketching portraits of them. His eventual work included, from left to right: Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and the figure of the artist. Kiss decided to include a portrait of himself as well, with the intention of erasing his own portrait when (if) he would turn 28, but it was only after he reached that age that he set to finally create the mural. Kiss wished to portray an "uplifting" portrait of these individuals and their lives, and painted the portraits of the famous artists in colors, but left his own portrait at the far right in gray. [12] [21] He chose a prominent wall at the heart of Tel Aviv (on Haim Ben Atar Street). [12] Kiss was assisted by fellow artists Itai Froumin and Roman Kozhokin to execute the piece, which spans 3 m (9.8 ft) high by 7 m (23 ft) wide. [22]
In order to avoid heavy fines and convince police that the work was commissioned, Kiss and his team wore yellow vests and helmets like city hall workers, rented a crane and pasted signs on the crane as "Property of the Tel Aviv Municipality". Art journalist Zipa Kampinski covered the mural's secretive creation process. " [23] [24] Over the years, the work has become known as one of Israel's must-see street artworks and has been featured in the Israeli street art documentary The Streets Are Ours ("HaRehovot Hem Shelanu"), [19] [25] becoming a became a symbol of the 27 club and receiving international coverage. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [ excessive citations ] The site had become a meeting point for tours and the wall underneath it is now filled with graffiti by multiple artists from around the world. It became a symbol of the gentrification process in South Tel Aviv. [36] Time Out Magazine cited Kiss' work among "The most beautiful in Tel Aviv", [37] [38] mayor of Tel Aviv (Ron Huldai) office, which eventually advertised street-art tours and featured Kiss' 27 Club graffiti in Tel Aviv . [39]
The Peace Kids
In his next art piece, Kiss painted "The Peace Kids" murals in two places: Tel Aviv, Israel and Bethlehem, Palestine. It was made in Bethlehem with Palestinian artist Moodi Abdallah. [4] [40] [41] [42] The art work was extensively covered by Yedioth Ahronoth , Reform Magazine , and others. [43] The work subsequently became a symbol for peace, repainted by other artists, [44] reproduced on shirts, included in artistic films, and appearing on posters and peace conferences invitations. [43] [45] [46]
The Naïve Series: While his street art often confronted viewers with unpleasant messages, including social injustice and the existence of war and violence, in his Naïve Series Kiss hoped to create the exact opposite, with paintings that will bring "happiness and love" to viewers. For this Naïve art approach - which typically has flat rendering style with a rudimentary expressions of perspective and strong primary colors - and to achieve a more "childish" result he used his left hand, despite being right-handed; furthermore, he drew some paintings when the canvas was placed upside down, so that elements such as the sky were placed on the bottom, and chose canvases with a black layer. [47] In the Naïve Series Kiss focused on paintings of landscapes, mostly urban, of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, as well as Paris, Prague and other cities around the world which he had visited. The landscapes, however, were intentionally "distorted, objects are crooked, the horizon is rounded, achieving a naïve look." [48]
Other art and social projects
Other projects: In 2012, Kiss partnered with Makor Rishon magazine to produce their cover image featuring a painting of Jerusalem. The cover also included an excerpt from German philosopher Franz Rosenzweig's writings. The Kiss painting, Love to Jerusalem, was painted to show his love for the city, in which he lived at the time. [49] [50]
The autism murals: Kiss then created an art installation from the joint drawings of these 200 children. These illustrations, colored by the autistic boys and girls, were joined to a large-scale mural. The mural, presented at Jerusalem's Western Wall, drew public attention to the cause of inclusion. Presenting the 200-piece-mural in front of Judaism's holiest site was to encourage Jewish reflection at what Kiss called "the dark rejection" of people with special needs, and to turn the page towards a more positive, inclusive future. The children who participated in the initiative, both boys and girls, were subsequently all aided in performing the bar mitzvah ceremony, essentially proving their adulthood according to Jewish tradition. [51]
Galleries
In 2007, Kiss had a solo exhibition in Tel Aviv, titled Beginnings: Neve Zedek and Jaffa; and attended by notable visitors including Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, marking his debut in the Israeli art world. In 2007, his work was featured at the Beit Gibor center, the Joï Gallery in Neve Tsedek, and over a dozen paintings were acquired by Israel's Bank Leumi as part of their permanent art collection. In 2009 Kiss had a solo exhibition at the Shorashim Art Gallery pavilion at the International Bank, Tel Aviv, and another exhibition curated by Esti Drori and Doron Polak. [52] [53] The event was followed by exhibitions in Berlin, [54] Toronto [55] and Miami. In 2010 he showed a solo exhibition at The Edge Gallery in Nahariya, [56] [57] and, at age 25, was the youngest artist to hold a solo exhibition in the gallery. [58] [59] In that exhibition he showed large-scale, 6-meter long triptychs portraying the city out of a window. [60] In 2011 he had a solo exhibition at the Art and Soul Gallery in Jerusalem; he later showed his paintings at the ZOA Gallery in Tel Aviv, curated by Doron Polak. [61]
In 2013 he showed a solo exhibition at the Griffin Gallery in Boca Raton, Florida, titled The City of Songs: Paintings of a Modern Jerusalem.[ citation needed ] In 2015 he showed his paintings at "O Lovely Land", GINA Gallery of International Naïve Art, Tel Aviv. In 2016 he had a solo exhibition at the Art and Soul Gallery in Jerusalem, and a year later had a second solo exhibition, "Next Year in Jerusalem" at the Griffin Gallery in Boca Raton, Florida. [62] at the Gallery of International Naïve Art in Tel Aviv. [63]
