r- After Rabln

NewArt frorm lsra After Rabln

NewArt from

'Aya & Gal'Ido Bar-El 'Avner Ben-Gal . i-::;has Cohen Gan'Nurit David ' Belu-Simion Fainaru ' Barry Frydlender lsrael ' Gideon Gechtman ' \{oshe Gershuni' Pesi Girsch ' Hershberg'Nir Hod . Joel Kantor Zvika Kantor 'Uri Katzenstein' Roi Kuper Moshe Kupferman . i'= Lavie . Merilu Levin . Limbus Group'Ariane Littman-Cohen 'Hilla Lulu Lin . . Tal Matzliah . Adi Nes . Lea Nikel. Moshe Ninio Ibrahim Nubani' Gilad Ophir David Reeb . Simcha Shirman . Doron Solomons . Igael Tumarkin ' Uri Tzaig'Micha Ullman ' Pavel Wolberg

S - SA N TU M A R K lN C OO D MAN WithcontributionsbyAdamBaruch,YaronEzrahi,TaliTamir After Rabin: An Introduction

SUSAN TUMARKIN COODMAN

by the artists demon- I recently gave a lecture on contemPorary Israeli art degree of innovation encompassed undermines any monolithic at a synagogue in NewYork City' My presentation, which strate how decisively their work themselves explored current artistic developments in Israel as well cultural or aesthetic point of view. If they see past decades, it is in terms as preeminent contemPorary Israeli artists, was met with in the reflection of Israeli art of past art almost unanimous discomfort and unease. The audience of their actively deconstructing or reinterpreting raised questions about the loss of aesthetic values forms and conventions. capture the flavor of and authenticity, about the art becoming arid and devoid Yet, as this exhibition seeks to by considering of spirituality, and too focused on discord and pain. a turbulent, splintered time in Israeli society I offer this anecdote to illustrate the difficulty for a stylistically and ideologically diverse group of artists, the works many Americans of accepting the harsh, unadorned, we note that, despite the plurality of styles, and social references often subversive work of current artists in Israel today. disclose a common sensibility. Political is an art that projects It also indicates the extent to which Israel is subject to may be indirect or explicit, but this Even in the American expectations, and how difficult it for a museum an inner turmoil-without nostalgia or comfort. personal concerns' if in New York to address the reality of contemporary work of artists who express intensely victims Israeli culture free of preconceptions, myth, or clich6. we dig more deeply we may find an elegy for the to the stress of life in Israel. Artists who American Jews confronted with new Israeli art are forced to of war or a response for its very acknowledge that the country in which they have invested live in a society that continues to struggle pervades their lives hopes and dreams, and which many still regard as the survival cannot ignore the tension that is little wonder that each work has an ultimate Jewish haven, can no longer be perceived in mono- and thoughts. It of uncen- lithic or utopian terms. In fact, the history of art in Israel undercurrent and is committed to the expression is a complex one, determined by numerous factors relating sored opinions. Israeli art, to language, culture, religion, and politics. Contemporary In this exhibition catalogue, leading role and place of Israeli art is neither circumscribed by a national ideology cultural, and social critics write about the and in the world at large' nor by a prevailing concept or uniform aesthetic vision. Israeli art within their own society We focus in this exhibition and catalogue on new Their observations are insightful: they describe how exploring art created during the three years since the assassination of the gaze of Israeli artists may be turned toward as problem Prime Minister in 1995, presenting the work personal identity or societal issues, such the the ongoing of both established and emerging artists working in Israel of survival in an antagonistic political climate' of culture today. They have all lived outside the country, many for absorption of new immigrants, internal clashes and idealist extended periods. Although the artists are highly visible at and communities, a deterioration of collective dream that home, and a number have been recognized internationally, values, and the loss (or success) of the Zionist the majority will be unknown here. The careers of these mobilized the creation of the state. Israel today is also diverse artistic personalities span four generations, ranging increasingly multicultural and diverse-with its different from the work of Lea Nikel, who was born in 1918 in ethnic communities that include recent immigrants from Zhitomir, the , and immigrated to Palestine when Ethiopia and the former , polarized religious Arab minority, she was a young child, to that of Nir Hod, who was born in and anti-religious factions, a more vocal in 1970. The range of styles, perspectives' and the and men and women concerned with the implications of gender all seeking self-definition, influence, and expression and originality. rvithin the culture. Most of these different assertions of The omission of certain artists and works should identity run counter to the normative, traditional, and, in also be noted. Ibraham Nubani (plate 35) is the only Arab the past, collective view. And since many Israeli artists Israeli artist shown in the exhibition. Another Arab lsraeli believe it is their role to confront cultural stereotypes and artist who was asked to participate in the context of the to eschew preconceived loyalties, they often project a 50th anniversary of the founding of Israel refused on the subversive or marginal point of view-directly or implicit- grounds that it would be construed as an endorsement iy-in their critiques of sociological, political, ecological, of official policies toward Israel's Arab citizens. Clearly, ethnic, ideological, and aesthetic issues. artists who share this viewpoint have asserted their cultural, By the very nature of their work, Israeli artists who religious, ethnic, and political identity in Israel as Arabs. follow the subversive path create a wedge between them- Another voice unrepresented in this exhibition is that of the selves and their public-including an American public that, Orthodox Jewish community, in part reflecting the fbr reasons of nostalgia and sympathetic identification, secularism of the Israeli art world; the religious communi- or to justifr their own support of the country, may prefer to ties have produced very few artists in Israel. One whom celebrate Israel's achievements rather than focus on its we had hoped to present declined to participate because problems and failed hopes. Contemporary Israeli art that we did not select work that expressed his view of "Israeli ignores, baffles, or makes fun of its audience runs the risk values." of offending that audience. If we have identified certain broad and inclusive A goal of this exhibition and catalogue is to portray themes in the art, they are obviously loose and fluid, and the vitality and innovation that characterize the work of they overlap and interconnect. Nevertheless, the works artists who currently live in Israel. We did not aim to select represent cultural perspectives and concerns ranging from artists who fit into stylistic molds, or whose work could political and social critiques to the most personal passions simply be identified as Israeli. Rathet the art reveals a and preoccupations. For certain artists, there seems no configuration of seemingly eclectic, often competing, visions choice but to focus on a society under stress by capturing and attitudes toward Israeli life that has emerged and and illuminating its pervasive anxiety, tension, and disquiet. evolved in the years following Rabin's death. This group As engaged citizens, these Israeli artists understand that a exhibition cannot claim to represent the range or complexi- work of art is not ideologically neutral, but implicitly takes a ty of Israeli artistic development and thinking even during position. Works of art can be used to comment on specific this brief three-year period, and this selective survey is social or political situations or to convey a particular intended to suggest the existence of a much greater reservoir message. They also employ the more explicit rhetoric of of mature and rich material. Furthermore, the curatorial shock that overturns conventional expectations, forcing us choice has been made by an outsider, an American, based on to confront widespread concerns about security, military personal appraisal resulting from countless conversations service, war, terrorism, occupation, and the ongoing battle rvith Israeli artists, curators, and critics, along with for territory. Military themes are prominent in Israeli life viewings of the art. The choice of artists-which includes and art, understandably since mandatory service swallou,s both emerging and established figures-was intended up three years in the lives of men (and two years for to assert the importance of artists demonstrating risk women), in addition to one month each year-until age 55 slorving down of the peace for men and age 50 for women-spent in the reserves. change oi government, and the had a The Limbus Group's Embroideries of Generals (plate 4), for process negotiated in Oslo are events that have life of the coun- example, deconstructs the mythic Israeli war hero and decisive influence not onlv on the political leader-and cult of the macho male-by displaying trr', but also on its cultr,rral development' Any consideration deep portraits of former Israeli Army chiefs of staff printed on of art during the last terr'r-eats t.l.tust acknorvledge the That moment on needlepoint canvas, a material traditionally associated with sense of loss surrounding Rirbir.r's murder. aura of hope domestic life and women's decorative crafts. Nor-en.rber -1, 199,i, destroi'ed the e\traordinary Israel. Rabin's There is a strong emotional tone to much socially- and liberation that had tlorvered brief'lv in the snbraleadet in an and politically-oriented art. Feelings of anger, fear, pride' image integrated the characteristics of sensitive and humane shame, and violence are expressed in many of these repre- uncannv l'ar': tough on the outside, gripped Israeli sentations, which appropriate images from media sources as on the inside. The shock and sadness that gave rise to artistic diverse as advertising, TV video, and journalism. The societ,v follorving his assassination scope and voiume, illus- success of this kind of political art can be measured by its expressions unprecedented in their to have become ability to express the disequilibrium' ambiguity' and trating horv in death Rabin seems alnost into an abstract uneasiness that are experienced daily in Israeli society in an detached from realin-and transtbrmed r.-ould be the same after almost palpable visual form. The painter David Reeb uses symbol and mvthic hgure. \othins rtas a vendetta against the his art to draw attention to his country's political activities. that violent act. At hrst there realized that healing Rather than making subjective statements about the situa- religious nationalists. Eventr.rallv in the nation, and tion, he renders directly the images published in Israeli had to take place amone difterent sroups their newspapers and shown on television (plate 7)' In this way' thev sor.rght shared, nonpartisan tbrn.rs of expressing porr'ertirl paintings by some Reeb's work asks penetrating questions about the ways in grief and solidirritr'. Hence the which perception is shaped and socially conditioned' of the older and t.nore est.rblished artists in the exhibition- (plate Artists in other countries are outspoken about the Lea Nikel {plate l,l . \loshe Kupttrmarr 11)' Igael quality of life, but their criticism is rarely expressed more Tun-rarkin rplate E r' Rath Lirtie iLrlate 1l)' and Pinchas vocabulary dramatically than in Israel. Even when the artist supplies the Cohen Gar.r plirte 9 '-in rr'hich an abstract most explicit references to the local Israeli context, the ett?ctileh' transnrits their protbund sellse of 1oss. what is an situation of the Israeli creative artist cannot be fully under- It is dirncult to dr;rrr'the line betn'een one in this art. stood without a lived awareness of the ubiquity of death and enlironntental issue and a sociopoliticerl the explicit bereavement in the society. Works that convey the implicit .{ distinct bodv of rttrrk reveals a shift arvay from the land, danger in even the most apparently innocent aspects of dail,v preoccupation ar.rd phvsical eneagemet.rt rvith in life may encode more subtle messages, as in Gideon geographr. and territorial issr.res, rr'hich were prevalent '80s both Gechtman's that takes fragments of a shattered the i 9, 0s and iI.r Israeli art, to the use of objects porcelain figurine-an innocent object of virtuosity- leal and simulated as metaphors for different perceptions such as and combines these broken pieces with the strength and of realitr'. Bl using images of material structures inviolability ofbronze to create six new figures that are buildings and roads-or real objects such as road signs-as identical in form, but not material, to the original object. the fbcal poir.rts of paintings, sculpture, installations, and in The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the ensuing photographs, Israeii artists alert us to the hazards lurking

COODIVAN 14 PLATE 19 Holy Land for Sale 1996 ARIANE LITTMAN-COHEN each 5 '/. x7 '/, in. ( 14 x 19 cm) Holy Land for Sale, Holy Air, and Holy Water Holy Air 1996 tiom Pro visions t998 each4'/'x3%in. diameter (11.5 x 8.5 cm) Soil, air, watet paper, linen string, tin, rvax, and plastic Holy Water 1998 each 8 % x2%in. diameter (22x6 cm) a modern technological society. For example, in the inserting subversive elements, Uri Tzaig's postcards of forests installation piece by Ariane Littman-Cohen (plate 19), the (plate 1S) and Moshe Ninio's honey jar (plate 18) transform juxtaposition of neutral physical objects, such as bottled this promised land of blooming desert and of milk and mineral water, bags of earth, and cans of air, acquires a honey, revealing how these cultural myths have been broader significance by their labeling, respectively, as "holy replaced by an endangered landscape that threatens the water," "holy land for sale," and "holy air"; not only are the possibilities for personal freedom. At the same time, Micha objects given an ideological context, but that context is Ullman creates habitats made of iron and sand that simultaneously undermined by the shift in focus from the incorporate earth as a component material (plate Z:;, sacredness of the Holy Land to the commodification of its expressing his deep personal connection to the land and to natural resources. In a different framework, a discarded the physicality of the earth itself, however threatened or road sign by Ido Bar-El (plate 2l) symbolizes the loss of its threatening it may be. public authority and meaning through the act of being In contrast to environmental and socially explicit defaced by the artist. Whether the photographs taken by Roi images, works that explore the artist's personal experiences, Kuper of an abandoned army warehouse in the Golan in the form of an autobiographical or created persona, (plate l6) are environmental or sociopolitical, judgment is figure prominently in Israeli art today. The act of turning implicit. Until the 1973 war, when such sites began to be away from the conflict and tragedy of national life to explore neglected, they were among the most secret locations in the personal realities has led many artists to confront gender country and afforded the great respect then given to the identity, religion, ethnicity, and their own personal autobi- army. Now, as suggested by Kuper's title for this series, ographies-concerns that demand introspection and con- Necropolis, such warehouses may be seen in the context of a sciousness of self. Their art reflects a turning inward and cemetery, or "necropolis," a monument to a former moment detachment from national, political, and broader environ- of glory. In Simcha Shirman's photographs of a road around mental issues. the new city of Mody'in (plate 22), an ironic twist of fate The aftermath of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, is suggested in the opposition between the wide-open with its agonizing loss of life and of confidence in Israel's landscape dominated by seemingly innocuous cactus, and military invincibility, resulted in an upsurge of disquiet and the new city, represented by fortress-like walls ofbrick self-criticism, deepening the political involvement and cul- and plaster that impinge on the land. In these works, images tural identity crisis of Israeli artists and widening the gap and objects acquire meaning through their context: to between the avant-garde and the political establishment. understand each work of art is to perceive how images may Around the time of the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, many be transformed by the environment in which they are Israeli citizens openly began to question the necessity of placed. armed conflict as a way to resolve the Israeli-Arab struggle; The content of much recent art in Israel has been most Israeli artists identified with the political Left and deeply affected by ideas about the meaning of land and joined in its opposition to the war. In subsequent years, how the natural environment is experienced and defined Israelis increasingly have come to value the irreplaceable in a culture in which the sanctity of the land has been individual at least as much as worship and defense of the ingrained as a central concept of the collective Zionist myth. land. Yaron Ezrahi, the political scientist and social critic Deliberately stripped of their traditional associations by who is a contributor to this catalogue, puts it this .rvar':

GOODI\4AN r5 "Because the loss of life is an absolute loss, the gradual rejection of Orthodox demands that city regulations con- spread of the values of individualism has forced Israelis to form to Orthodox beliefs. Pesi Girsch's photographs (plate juxtapose'there is no other place'with the no less com- 24) reveal the other side of this dichotomy in the insular pelling imperative'there is no other life"' (Rubber BuIIets: atmosphere of an Orthodox neighborhood in Power and Conscience in Modern Israel [NewYork: Farrar, where life is portrayed as untouched by the rules or customs Straus and Giroux, 19971,p.254). of the modern city. It is interesting to note that when these Often highly personal or filled with the common- artists infuse their work with charged cultural content, they place details of life, this art questions the nature of identity generally do so in a revisionist or critical spirit and from a assumed, invented, cultural, national, and personal. -real, distanced point of view. The fable-like autobiography of Nir Hod's constructed Personal revelation is present to varying degrees in works (plate 3) leaves unclear whether the ambiguous all of the works that explore facets of individual identity. "I"-neither completely male or female, fictional or authen- The artwork and personal experiences are as diverse as the tic-is actually the artist or a symbolic alter ego. Nir Hod's artists themselves. Hilla Lulu Lin's video (plate 30), reflect- work, as noted, and the photographs of Adi Nes (plate 5) ing a provocative female vision of reproduction, depicts a explore gender identity-such as the macho male role-in a whole egg yolk rolled from the artist's mouth, down her specifically Israeli context, that of the military. Are these arm, and back to her mouth in a continuous cycle. Nurit men the rugged, tough, invincible Israeli soldiers of 1967 David's paintings (plate 32) juxtapose familiar places legend, or are they pretty boys posing and letting off steam, (a schoolroom, a stairway-both transitional spaces) and albeit with an ironic twist of fate thrown in? Merilu Levin's members of her family in an autobiographical narrative that transformed ready-mades (plate 31) project a subtle but has both psychological and iconographic meaning. Despite provocative feminist stance that comments at once on gen- their intimate and idiosyncratic visions, however, not all der, sexuality, sex-role stereotyping, and the role of women works containing personal references impose a subjective or in Israeli society. They turn everyday objects such as a distorting filter on the surface of reality. Some art may pos- cakepan, an iron, or a bathroom shelf into intimate self-por- sess an aura of objectivity, as, for instance, Israel Hershberg's traits that project a wry sense of humor while making their realistic representation of immediate reality in his portraits point about "women's work." Ethnic identity issues are or still lifes (plate 33). embedded in the paintings of Ibrahim Nubani (plate 35), All of the participants in this exhibition and rvhich combine identifiable cultural images and abstract pat- catalogue make use of contemporary aesthetic strategies to terns to convey an uneasy synthesis of East and West derived create work that conveys the complexity of life in Israel. from his experience as an Arab Israeli living in two worlds. A major concern is the very role and function of art and the When artists look to myth, ritual, and religion as a language of artistic communication. In Israel, and through- source, they find multiple means of expression. Belu-Simion out the international art wor1d, installation and object-based Fainaru's mixed-media installation (plate 27) ironically con- art have become the media of choice, while technology fronts the conditions that secular urban life imposes on has made the spread of inevitable, especially since Orthodox fewish religious practices in Israel today. A traffrc its visual effects offer opportunities for artistic experimenta- iight continues to operate on the Sabbath-in violation of tion. Video appears frequently as an element of mixed- Orthodox 6f 5s1y6n6s-demonstrating the municipality's media works; as an independent form of documentation;

cooDtvtAN r6 or as a mode of transmitting an evocative film with its own internal references. Because of its extraordinary capacity to capture perceptual detail as well as personal nuance, photography has developed as an important and influential medium. As it acquired an independent artistic identity, photography departments were established at the major art schools and museums in Israel. The heightened institutional interest in film, video, photography, and computer arts has stimulated much activity in these fields. The politicization of art seems to go hand-in-hand with rejection of the more traditional media of painting and sculpture that may be better suited to neutralizing political and social content. \,Vhile a number of artists throughout Israel continue to paint and to draw, currently these methods lack the force and impact of a collective phenomenon, as was evident among the pioneering artists of preceding generations. The current mixed-media work also favors an array of language and conceptual strategies that include irony, satire, and parody. Joel Kantor photographed a toy donkey in front of a shabby building on a Jerusalem street and gave it the ironic title Waiting for the Messiah, lerusalem. This absurd image, with its legendary associations of the Messiah's arrival on a white donkey, undermines cultural stereotypes and alludes to the debased aspirations that emerge now in Israel's everyday life. On the surface everlthing is stable, secure, normal; but in fact an existential uncertainty prevails. Like the game played without rules in Uri Tzaig's video, this new Israeli art may convey the absurd and intangible forces at play in human life, whether represented by means of simple forms and directness of execution or by complex structure and rarified abstraction. It is difficult to find an art that is more persistent or burrows deeper into an existential consciousness. Reflecting a fresh intellectual rigor and confidence, contemporary Israeli art addresses themes that are major constructs within the culture, enhancing our perception of Israel today by expressing its history, ideals, conflicts, fears, and hopes.

cooDt\,,1AN 17 isional Activities 1992-93 . Bograshou the Street- t92- . America-Israel Cultural Export Surplus :tors and Curators Foundation Scholarship, Bograshov Gallery, Tel Aviv us Gallery Tel Aviv Tel Aviv r995 . Sculpture, Installation' 9 5 rs Group Awards Selected Solo Exhibitions Israel Festival, Jerusalem go-91 1992 .NewWorks :ica-Israel Cultural . Nature Morte Noga Gallery of dation Scholarship, Ariane Littman-Cohen Bograshov Gallery, Tel Aviv Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv uiv r995 1996 t94 . Virgin of Israel and Her . Marks: Artists Work rdLevy Prize, ARIANE Daughters Throughout Jerusalem srael Museum, LITTMAN-COH EN Artists' House, Jerusalem The , alem 1997 Ierusalem .Born in 1962, Lausanne, . The Range of Realism . Long Memory/ Short rs Group Exhibitions Switzerland Memory t92 .Immigrated to Israel City Gallery of rSpace: One Exhibition in l98l Selected Group Exhibitions Contemporary Art, ,e .Lives in Jerusalem 1992 Raleigh, .Who . 'us Gallery, Tel Aviv Is Signed on the Duck? Desert Clichd: Israel Now- t94 Education Bograshov Gallery, Tel Aviv Local Images tis-One Exhibition r986 1993 Arad Museum, Arad, Israel; /e, No. 2 .B.A., The Hebrew . Third Person traveled to Mishkan ,us Gallery, of Ierusalem Bograshov Gallery, Tel Aviv Le'Omanut, Museum of . t97 r99r The Range of Realism Art, Ein Harod, Israel; "oideries of Generals .B.F.A., Bezalel Academy of Tel Aviv Museum of Art Museum of Art, \rts Pavilion, Ramat Art and Design, ferusalem 1994 Herzliya,Israel; Bass aron, Israel; traveled 1996 . The Suitcase Museum of Art, Miami e 2nd International .M.F.A., Bezalel Academy of Bograshov Gallery, Tel Aviv Beach, Florida; Grey Art c Biennial, Tokyo Art and Design, ferusalem, . From the Collection Gallery and Study Center )98 and the Hebrew University The Israel Museum, of New York University, lition Report of ferusalem lerusalem NewYork .srael Museum, . Meta-Sex'94: Identity, Body .WomanTime alem Professional Activities and Sexuality Artists'House, )t+-the building, 199r-94 Mishkan Le'Omanut, . Station Transformation, uction, and restoration .Assistant Curator, Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Project no. 3 gh Places (Israel The Israel Museum, Israel; traveled to the The New Central Bus -1e98) Jerusalem Museum of Art, BatYam, Station, Tel Aviv na Iewish Museum, Israel 1997 :ia Awards .90>70>90 . Out of Senses r99r Helena Rubinstein Pavilion MUHKA, Museum of . Marie Fisher Memorial for Contemporary Art, Modern Art, Prize for the Advancement Tel Aviv Museum of Art Antwerp, Belgium of Young Artists, .TeI Hai'94 . Home Bezalel Academy of Art and Contemporary Art Meeting, Gallery Anadiel, The Old Design, Ierusalem Tel Hai, Upper Galilee, City, ferusalem Israel

THE ARTISTS a7