{"id":22948,"date":"2014-02-24T21:17:06","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T02:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=22948"},"modified":"2014-03-20T11:13:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T15:13:41","slug":"contemporary-israeli-art-at-julie-m-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=22948","title":{"rendered":"Contemporary Israeli Art at Julie M. Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

What makes an artist Israeli? This is a question I found myself trying to answer after visiting the group exhibition currently on display at Julie M. Gallery, simply titled, Contemporary Israeli Art<\/em>. <\/em>Does the artist have to be born and\/or reside in Israel? This exhibition would suggest not, as roughly half the artists presented in the show do not fulfill one (and in some cases both) of these prerequisites. Miriam Cabessa is a testament to this fact. Born in Casablanca, Morocco and currently residing in New York, her painting Homage for Turner<\/em> is the cover image for the exhibition on the gallery\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Miriam Cabessa, Homage for Turner<\/em>, 2010, gold dust, oil and found image on linen,\u00a0\u00a020 x 50 inches. Courtesy of Julie M. Gallery<\/p>\n

So then what else might help classify an artist as being Israeli? And what sort of exotic expectations might a viewer anticipate in an exhibition of \u201cIsraelness?\u201d Certainly some may expect much of the art to address political and\/or religious themes, an unfortunate reality due to the Western media\u2019s portrayal of Israel as a State tangled in constant conflict. Julie M.\u2019s exhibition undoubtedly features artworks addressing such themes, perhaps best exemplified by Eran Shakine\u2019s Christian, Muslim and a Jew, And the Finger<\/em> of God<\/em>. The painting features three figures (purportedly a Christian, Muslim and Jew) standing at the base of a mountain beneath the pointed finger of God. Shakine\u2019s motivations are clear; his artist statement begins with \u201cLife is not easy, especially when you are living in a conflict zone like the Middle East\u201d and ends with an anecdote about the endlessness of war.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Eran Shakine,\u00a0 Christian, Muslim and a Jew, And the Finger of God<\/em>, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 39 inches. Courtesy of Julie M. Gallery<\/p>\n

Other artists presented in the exhibition deal with similar themes. Yehuda Porbuchrai\u2019s Flag<\/em> is a patriotic layering of dripped, thrown and smudged black and white paint and Alma Shneor\u2019s War <\/em>harkens back memories of recent katusha rocket attacks in Northern Israel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Yehuda Porbuchrai, Flag<\/em>, acrylic on canvas, 55 x 69 inches. Courtesy of Julie M. Gallery<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Alma Shneor, War<\/em>, 2007,\u00a0C-print, 43 x 47 inches. Courtesy of Julie M. Gallery<\/p>\n

Yet despite the prevalence of such themes in these works, the majority of artwork displayed in the exhibition addresses ideas and motifs of a completely different nature. \u00a0Deganit Berest is interested in liminality and the threshold between reality and the digital world. Part of the series entitled \u201cSea Level,\u201d Boy Reclining <\/em>aims to address this notion by causing the viewer to oscillate between perceiving seemingly meaningless geometric abstract shapes and a distinctly viewable image of a reclining figure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Deganit Berest, Boy Reclining, 2006,\u00a0archival inkjet print, 43 x 57 inches. Courtesy of Julie M. Gallery<\/p>\n

Also exhibited in Contemporary Israeli Art <\/em>is Itomar Jobani, whose topographical sculptures offer a distinct depiction of the human body. Jobani says the encounter between the human body and topographical model completes the circle and enables him to speak about man as earth and earth as man.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Itomar Jobani, Invalid Topography<\/em>, 2007, corrugated cardboard. Courtesy of Julie M. Gallery<\/p>\n

So in returning to the question \u201cWhat makes an artist Israeli?\u201d the answer remains uncertain. If one is to take Julie M.\u2019s exhibition as any indicator, it is abundantly clear that contemporary \u201cIsraeli\u201d artists are working all around the world and are addressing a vast array of themes and ideas. Julie M. Gallery succeeds in reflecting this wide variety and not restricting itself to presenting Israeli art that addresses more typical politico-religious notions.<\/p>\n

Mitch Billinkoff<\/p>\n

*Exhibition dates: January 30 – March 9, 2014, Julie M. Gallery, 15 Mill Street, Distillery District. Gallery hours: Tues –\u00a0Sat\u00a0 11 \u2013 6,\u00a0\u00a0 Sun\u00a0 12 \u2013 5 p.m. Julie M. also has a gallery in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mitch Billinkoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

If one is to take Julie M.\u2019s exhibition as any indicator, it is abundantly clear that contemporary \u201cIsraeli\u201d artists are working all around the world and are addressing a vast array of themes and ideas. <\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,138,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mitch-billinkoff","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22948"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22953,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22948\/revisions\/22953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}