A bold stroke: Broken Fingaz trades the wall for the canvas in new Tel Aviv show

The art collective Broken Fingaz presents “No Way Around It,” its first comprehensive solo exhibition in Tel Aviv, at the Nassima Art Foundation. The show features a new collection of oil paintings, drawings, and wooden sculptures, signaling a new direction for the internationally recognized group.

Broken Fingaz, comprising core members Tant, Unga, and Deso, has maintained a consistent collaborative practice since the early 2000s. Their work has spanned diverse formats, including large-scale murals, screen printing, animation, and installations, often moving between street art and institutional settings. This exhibition delves into the physical process of painting with oil on canvas, a departure from their earlier focus on graphic clarity for public visibility.

The shift to oil painting introduces a different pace and methodology compared to their previous street-based work. Oil painting demands slower development and a more layered accumulation of decisions, contrasting with the immediacy of graffiti. The works in “No Way Around It” are presented as studio objects, reflecting this more deliberate and iterative production process.

Works like Unga’s ‘Broken Wing’ and ‘Lake Atitlan,’ and Deso’s ‘Egg Thief’ and ‘Soul Rescue,’ demonstrate this new approach. The collective's practice is characterized by a continuous exchange and reworking of images, creating a circuit where forms reappear in altered states depending on their context, whether on the street or in a gallery.