The 1980s in Israeli Art Visual arts in Israel

nahum tevet

jemmáin, 1986

kunsthalle, manheim



gideon gechtman

cart, 1984



larry abramson

from tsoba, 1993-4

impression on newspaper no.xiv

private collection

most of artists worked in 1970s conceptualist artists in variety of media changed style in 1980s , returned part medium of painting. this, under influence of european , american art, characterized during years mixture of styles grouped under accepted esthetic of minimalism, including american neo-geo style, pop art style of artists such jeff koons, , fashionable expressive style, known bad painting , of artists such george baselitz , julian schnabel, defined post modernist spirit in art around world.

these international trends filtered israeli art, reflected attempt undercut values of contemporary israeli society. in art of decade, toward end, discourse of identities developed, discourse incompatible institutional hegemony; narrative painting returned , regained status among local artists, intentionally combining post modernist use of high , low in aspects of implementation , themes of works of art.

the expressive style in painting adopted in israel great many artists. michal na aman, created collages , other conceptual art in 1970s, moved large scale paintings psychological , psychoanalytic overtones. moshe gershuni moved conceptual , minimalistic sculpture painting full of impasto (thickly laid on paint) in combined homoerotic symbolism images of soldiers jewish associations, such verses bible , other judeo-christian sources. prominent aspect of art in years use of references holocaust , jewish culture in europe. gershuni s painting techniques included applying paint hands, without using brush, transforming act of painting sort of solo performance.

in parallel expressionist approach, other artists worked in more formalist approach. painter diti almog exhibited large paintings textile motifs, such buttons, shirt fabrics, etc. works abstract , decorative in style. gap between calculated, formalist (formal) approach , use of everyday themes result of feminist approach derived it. in works of painters such isaac golombek , nahum tevet preoccupation deconstructing personal narrative dealing in formalistic way relationship between form , content, in evidence.

if in 1970s israeli art full of social , political messages, art in 1980s more concerned protest . attribute evident in second half of 1980s, under influence of events such 1982 lebanon war , outbreak of first intifada. painter david reeb, example, painted works of clear political nature, such green line green eyes (1987), showed borders of israel without land conquered in 6 day war, beyond green line, combined portraits of arabs face covered , coastline of tel aviv beach. painter, tsibi geva, created oriental figures, drawn in expressive-naïve style, combined captions here arara or umm al-fahm .

larry abramson presented critical view of israeli zionism in series of abstract paintings entitled tsoba . fragments of arab village sat on site of kibbutz tzuba until war of independence peek through. series created counterpoint abstract paintings of same name jossef zaritsky, in erased , were, remnants of arab village.

artistic photography gained status during period, emerging place had occupied many years negligible area of art. large number of artists returned studying photography in united states, among them avi ganor, oded yedaya, yigal shem tov, simcha shirman, deganit berest, etc. @ museum of art ein harod in mid-1980s, biennale of israeli photography held, presenting israeli photography first time in museum setting on large scale.

in press photography acquired new aspect, staged photography, in works of photographers such micha kirshner. in portraits, kirshner used artistic devices such makeup, lighting, , composition in attempt create desired effect on way subjects socially perceived. in portrait of model tami ben-ami (1982), kirshner emphasized artificiality of public image of model, , on gap between image , private person.

performance art began develop. important group functioning in area named shelter 209 , after number of tel aviv bomb shelter in performed. members of group danny zackheim, tamar raban, , anat shen. group, zik group , created images of large-scale cockroaches, burned in complex ceremonies included ritual elements.