About me
My name is shalev Piha “SHELO”, a 21-year-old multidisciplinary, self-taught artist from Kiryat Yam, Israel.
Growing up in this small coastal city gave me layers of memory, community, and raw experiences that continue to shape who I am. From an early age, I found refuge in creation — first as an observer, later as someone trying to translate inner feelings into a visual language. For me, art has never been just a profession; it is a way to voice what words often cannot hold: anxiety, longing, sorrow, fear, and the timeless questions of identity and belonging.
My public journey began with murals and community projects — turning walls and neglected spaces into living parts of the city.
A defining moment came with the Marina Project: an abandoned building transformed into a temporary gallery where I first worked on large-scale canvases.
That experience set the course of my research. It was there that my recurring visual language emerged — circular eyes, tied hair, bare chests, and the ever-present tear. These became signs, like visual echoes of inner voices.
In the years that followed, my artistic language grew. As both a painter and a graphic designer, I began working in layers:
A graphic/abstract layer of clean forms and bold stripes of color.
A textural layer of expressive brushwork, patterns, and experiments with different tools and mediums.
And finally, the emotional layer — the recurring figure of the woman, drawn over the chaos, grounding the work in vulnerability and intimacy.
This female figure is more than an aesthetic choice — she is my tool for searching. An almost divine presence, she represents the love we are born from and spend our lives seeking. Through her, I embed my own stories: my grandmother’s tales, fragments of memory from Kiryat Yam, relationships and heartbreaks, the weight of time. She becomes both mirror and question, reflecting the tension between fragility and strength.
In 2023–2025, my work continued to evolve. From bold and innocent portraits, to the integration of graphic forms, to a deeper exploration of veils and fabrics that conceal the face — symbols tied to family memory and my search for authenticity. These years marked an ongoing dialogue between what I had learned, what I was letting go of, and what I was still discovering.
Looking forward, my vision is to keep shaping a personal visual language that merges painting, design, and community. I want my work to exist both on gallery walls and in the daily lives of people — not as answers but as invitations to dialogue. Each canvas, mural, and print is a chapter in a larger journey: an exploration of how vulnerability, memory, and emotion can become not just personal expression but a shared human experience.
about me
My name is shalev Piha “SHELO”, a 21-year-old multidisciplinary, self-taught artist from Kiryat Yam, Israel.
Growing up in this small coastal city gave me layers of memory, community, and raw experiences that continue to shape who I am. From an early age, I found refuge in creation — first as an observer, later as someone trying to translate inner feelings into a visual language. For me, art has never been just a profession; it is a way to voice what words often cannot hold: anxiety, longing, sorrow, fear, and the timeless questions of identity and belonging.
My public journey began with murals and community projects — turning walls and neglected spaces into living parts of the city.
A defining moment came with the Marina Project: an abandoned building transformed into a temporary gallery where I first worked on large-scale canvases.
That experience set the course of my research. It was there that my recurring visual language emerged — circular eyes, tied hair, bare chests, and the ever-present tear. These became signs, like visual echoes of inner voices.