If you’ve been to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market (the Shuk) lately, you can’t help but notice all the colorful graffiti decorating the all the shutters. The artwork, by artist Solomon Souza and producer Berel Hahn, depict famous Jews like Steven Spielberg, Albert Einstein, Jonathan Pollard and Roseanne Barr, as well as famous Rabbis, biblical figures and even the parents of shop owners. Not content to limit his canvas to just the Shuk, Solomon has taken lately to decorating adjacent areas like Agripas street, Nachlaot and now even downtown Jerusalem! Last Friday, Solomon, Berel and I headed to the corner of Lunz and Ben Yehuda street where Solomon completed a giant 20 foot mural of Jacob wrestling with an angel.
I shot a time lapse of the artist at work and that had all kinds of challenges. Since it was Friday afternoon, we were racing against the clock – I was having guests over Saturday and had to make a Chamin. It was also crazy hot – luckily Berel was around to keep us all well hydrated! Also, I don’t know what it is about Israelis but whenever I set up a tripod to film something, that’s always the exact spot they feel compelled to rush by, often barely missing the tripod or out and out bumping right into it, despite the fact that it’s 5 feet tall and that there’s plenty of space all around it. Who knows what that’s all about…
In any case, the video is about 2 minutes long, but it compresses 3.5 hours of work, not including the initial sketching. Crazy, right? Feel free to visit the artwork yourself and let us know what you think. Look out for more Solomons popping up wherever beauty and a splash of color is desperately needed. Berel tells me there’s even crazier stuff in the works – we’ll let you know what when it’s finalized!
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