Jonathan Kis-Lev

This depicts the witch as it appeared in Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

27 Club graffiti in Tel Aviv

John Kiss (born Jonathan Kis-Lev, September 12, 1985) is an Israeli street artist, peace activist and author, known for his graffiti work, political artwork and community-based projects.

Having been involved in peace activism since his youth, his work centers on the transformative capacity of art; notable works include The Peace Kids Mural and the 27 Club graffiti in Tel Aviv.

Jonathan Kislev (later John Kiss) was born to parents who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union.

The family settled in Mishmar Ayalon, where he took private art lessons.

At the age of eleven, he attended a peace art camp in Nablus funded by USAID.

Meeting Palestinian children for the first time sparked his interest in peacemaking.

He began to see how art could create bridges.

At the age of 13, he joined an Jewish-Arab youth movement.

Kiss studied art in Tel Aviv, and at Pearson College in British Columbia and studied there for two years, majoring in Visual Arts.

He later earned his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from the Open University of Israel focusing on art and psychology.

Kiss is a board member of the Israeli League of Esperanto Speakers and the president of the Young Esperanto Speakers.

He is a member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel, as well as the Israeli Association of Visual Artists.

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.

Untypical among street artists, Kiss used his real name in his work rather than a pseudonym.

As his works became "identified by his signature logo of an elf", 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.

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 and art magazines noted its uniqueness.

The painting became a symbol of graffiti in the local area as well as the street art scene.

Kiss' next work, in 2014, depicted seven artists from the "27 Club".

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.

He chose a prominent wall at the heart of Tel Aviv (on Haim Ben Atar Street).

Kiss was assisted by fellow artists Itai Froumin and Roman Kozhokin to execute the piece, which spans 3 m high by 7 m wide.

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.

" 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"), becoming a became a symbol of the 27 club and receiving international coverage. 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. Time Out Magazine cited Kiss' work among "The most beautiful in Tel Aviv", mayor of Tel Aviv (Ron Huldai) office, which eventually advertised street-art tours and featured Kiss' 27 Club graffiti in Tel Aviv.

The Peace Kids

In his next art piece, Kiss painted "thumb|The Peace Kids" murals in two places: Tel Aviv, Israel and Bethlehem, Palestine.

It was made in Bethlehem with Palestinian artist Moodi Abdallah.

The art work was extensively covered by Yedioth Ahronoth, Reform Magazine, and others.

The work subsequently became a symbol for peace, repainted by other artists, reproduced on shirts, included in artistic films, and appearing on posters and peace conferences invitations.

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.