Viva Tel Aviv: Part four
King Adz heads to Israel in search of an unspoiled street culture scene that has yet to break.
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I spend the day exploring the different parts of Tel Aviv proper and PILPELED takes me to all the shops and galleries that he knows will hit the spot. We even find a copy of The Urban Cookbook
The weather is killer and it’s only winter. White dreads are everywhere and we pass a hairdressers that only deals with the locking up of dreadlocks. “The white dread has moved from South Africa to here,” I say to PILPELED. “Yes, many blond dread here,” he says.
He takes me to eat a Sabich (a pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs, potato, salad, houmous and tahini) which is a first (of many) as it tastes like nothing else. “Each place has its own twist, adds its own secret ingredients,” Pil tells me, after I've scoffed the lot. Street food for the book indeed...
Giving brands the finger, Tel Aviv Style - always great to see!
We then stroll to a coffee shop which is a total throwback to Goa. Geezers sit around playing chess under the palms in the courtyard and there is a bookshelf in the corner; people roll joints, while young couples canoodle, oblivious to anything except each other. I shoot some film of this serene scene taking place a block away from one of the busiest streets. Everyone is happy as larry, everything existing in harmony. Only in Tel Aviv...
This is when I realise that — for one reason or another — I'm totally blessed to be able to travel the world, explore wonderful places and hang with the most amazing talents. Old, new, past, present and future. When I'm on the road I get up each day and get to meet and hear the most amazing stories from people who are truly expressing themselves through their work — good people, doing great work.
This is what life is about. This is the real deal, Holyfield. Okay, so it has taken me a long time to get to this point and unless you're a trustafarian (which I'm not) you can't do this without a major publisher behind you that is into your work 100% (which I'm lucky to have). My advice is to work hard and be nice to people, follow your gut and only deal with what you truly believe in. The rest will follow... This all happened for me because of my total love and belief in street culture. This is all I know, I can't do anything else...
Some contemporary art that I love...
We finish the day at the Fresh Paint contemporary art fair, held in an old station on the beach. Most of the work is the usually 'arty' bullshit that I avoid like the plague, but there are a few exceptions (see picture above) and Know Hope has some work up that is killer. It’s great to see that he is the only artist in the whole show to totally sell every piece. This is a great indicator of the power of the street. Onwards and upwards my bru!
Tune in tomorrow for the next installment.
King Adz is a writer, ex-filmmaker and street culture aficionado. He is the author of The Urban Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Graffiti Generation
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Viva Tel Aviv: Part four (text) by King Adz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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