Art critic analyzes Israeli art on display at Towson University

By Raenard Weddington
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

Noted art curator and contemporary art critic Daniel Belasco discussed the significance of diversity and religion in the contemporary Israeli art pieces on display in Towson University’s Center for the Arts Gallery, part of the Visions of Place Exhibit that began on Feb. 5 and runs until April 3.

Exhibitions of contemporary Israeli art are scarce in the United States and Belasco said it is a topic that curators and institutions tend to avoid, even though individual Israeli artists are thriving.

“Individual Israeli artists have definitely had their works shown widely in museums across the country and in commercial galleries,” Belasco said. “But as a topic it as often generally been avoided.”

Belasco said that through his lecture, he wanted to initiate a discourse that centered on the different social narratives communicated through the Israeli artists’ bodies of work that are on display in the gallery.

“I was particularly interested in religion and the diversity of religion within Israel,” Belasco said. “So these slides that I show are not every work in the exhibition, but particular works I was interested in that I felt addressed this topic of religion and spirituality in crisis.”

Many of the art pieces displayed on the slides Belasco presented expressed the artists’ internal discontent and the lengths people will go to secure their freedom.

“Spiritual redemption may be a more valuable outcome than physical safety,” Belasco said.

Belasco said that he wanted viewers of the exhibition to recognize the diversity of the artists’ values and experiences. He said that roughly 24 percent of the Israeli population is not Jewish and is comprised of a diverse array of racially and religiously diverse people.

“[There are] large groups of Palestinian artists who are both Muslim and Christian, and there are immigrants from Africa and West Asia to Israel,” Belasco said. “A lot of these stories are told through art but we don’t hear about them in the news.”

Students and teachers of art watched intensely as Belasco provided his thematic take on the various pieces that were exhibited in the Towson University Center For the Arts Gallery. He also took the time to educate the audience on the erasure of the innovations of Israeli artists.

“For decades the conventional thinking was that Israeli art was following in the footsteps of American art,” Belasco said. “But since 9/11 I think that may have shifted in an important way.”

He said Israeli art was not derivative of American and European experiences and that their perspectives about their humanity was unique.

“The issues of personal identity, communal relations, and international terror have always been at the forefront of Israeli art for decades,” Belasco said. “It’s only recently that such issues have become concerns to Americans.”

Belasco said that the artists’ works that concerned political and social upheaval resonated with him.

“One feels a sense of hope but also sadness in seeing the feelings of injustice that some of the artists are dealing with in their work.”

He said art could serve as a catalyst for change.

“Ultimately, I feel that conversation and dialogue are the most important roots towards some kind of political solution – and art is a really important vehicle for dialogue.”

His lecture was sponsored by the Towson University’s Department of Art.