In The East

Poet Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, writing in 12th century Spain, lamented, “My heart is in the East, but I am in the farthest West”. The exhibition In The East presents its converse: all of the artists are active in the local, Levantine, Middle East. They are identified and identify themselves as part of it, search for their roots within it, while simultaneously exposed to the discourse of western art and culture, are impacted by the west, and maintain a multileveled dialogue with it. A close look at the oeuvre of each artist raises questions about contemporary understandings of “East” and “West” with their geographic, social, and cultural aspects, raising a complicated and not necessarily coherent picture of Israeli art and its relationship to the global art field.