American Craft 2009 04-05, page 20 read online

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M a g n ificen t

Obsessions

Israel Museum

Bizarre Perfection

Jerusalem, Israel

December 20,2008 ■

June

,2009

israelmuseum.com

The Israel Museum, whose en-

cyclopedic collections include

objects of supreme artistic virtu-

osity from a range of cultures,

has organized an interdisciplin-

ary exhibition that celebrates

labor-intensive, not to say obses-

sive, handcraftsmanship in 50

objects by artists spanning the

millennia, from anonymous

craftspeople in ancient times

to contemporary artists from

around the world.

The show’s seemingly oxy-

moronic title, “Bizarre Perfec-

tion,” points to a number of

attributes shared by these var-

ied works. Some embody para-

dox, like the wedding of the

mundane and the precious in

Susan Collis’s

Also Ran,

a worn

stepladder whose paint spatters

are actually inlaid mother-of-

pearl, opals and other precious

stones, or the blend of hyper-

realism and fantasy in Ron

Mueck’s portrait of two old

women in conversation, a work

so dead-on in its depiction of

every wrinkle and facial hair,

yet thrust, because of the weird-

ly reduced scale of the figures,

into a fairy-tale realm.

Then there are the objects

that bring attention to the

infinite labor and its corollary,

time, required to combine

countless elements, as in Liza

Lou’s

Kitchen,

an everyday

environment that is magically

transformed by surfaces com-

posed of millions of glass

beads, or Do-Ho Suh’s glass

FloorG ,

detail, held up by

thousands of miniature human

figures made out of plastic, or

Tara Donovan’s massive cube

out of myriad wood tooth-

picks, or Roxy Paine’s

Psilocybe

Cubensis Field,

comprising

2,200 life-size polymer mush-

rooms, individually molded

and hand-painted, that seem

to sprout from the floor.

These contemporary pieces

are juxtaposed with similarly

remarkable treasures from dif-

ferent departments of the mu-

seum: an egg hand-decorated in

ink with Chapter 4 of the Song

of Songs in micrography Qu-

daica) ©, a colorful grouping

of beaded Yoruba coronets (Af-

rican A rt) and a Greek terra-

cotta vase in the shape of san-

daled foot (Ancient Art).

Accounting for the artisanal

appeal of all these works and

the impetus behind the exhibi-

tion, which is occurring while

the museum undergoes renova-

tion of its permanent collection

galleries, Suzanne Landau,

the curator, writes, in her cata-

log introduction, “Perhaps

our constant fascination with

and appreciation of handmade

activity is in part a response to

the loss of originality that char-

acterizes today’s technology.

And perhaps it has to do with

a profound need and longing

for tangible things that are awe-

some and enduring, for acts

of creativity that echo the

divine.”—

b.s.

The 65-page catalog is $25.

FL /Lakeland

Polk Museum of Art:

Unbelievable Transformations:

Moving Sculptures by Gregory

Barsamian

to June 7

polkmuseumofart.org

Sculptures spinning on an

armature are animated in a dark-

ened room by a strobe light,

producing illusionary images.

Contemporary Museum

at First Hawaiian Center:

May Izumi: Once the Tale

is Over

to May 1

tcmhi.org

Inspired by remnants of fairy

tales, Izumi continues the

narrative through whimsical,

figurative sculptures in mixed

media such as the Ghosts of

Eden series.

IN/Indianapolis

Indianapolis Museum of Art:

European Design Since 1985:

Shaping the New Century

to June 21

imamuseum.org

From furniture and products

to objets d’art, 250 works by the

most influential artists from

14 Western European countries

trace the evolution of design.

IA / Iowa City

AKAR:

Ron Meyers

May 29-June 19

akardesign.com

Meyers’s earthenware pottery,

enhanced by narrative colored-

slip paintings or drawings,

weds utility with vivid graphics.