Admiring Controversy through Neutrality: Visions of Place Art Exhibit

The Vision of Place exhibit measures up to its title, as well as its hype and the anticipation. It is not a typical University art installation—in a good way! What better way to educate oneself on current political events than to reflect upon one of the most controversial geographical regions in the world.  The Visions of Place exhibit displays contemporary Israeli art in regards to its territorial and geographical disputes, religious practices, and historical significance. The exhibit fuses together the Israeli and Arabic cultural backgrounds coherently, and justifies the views and opinions of contemporary artists living in Israel, in an unbiased manner. Many foundations and universities collaborated to make the exhibition a success. The inclusion of artists and photographers such as; Adi Nes, Dorit Feldman, Toby Cohen, Dor Guez, Tanir Zadok, Michael Halak, Andi Arnovitz, Oded Balitty, and Maya Muchovosky Parnas, puts Towson University on the map by promoting the University’s reputation as being reputable and diverse.

Upon entering Towson University’s spacious and spectacular Center for the Arts Gallery, it is merely impossible to miss the delicate display of ceramic disks arranged on a floor mount, consisting of various colors and sizes.  Titled Dead Sea for the Time Being, by Maya Muchawsky Parnas. The ceramic disks represent the topography and landscape of Israel.  This theme is further presented by the many paintings and photographs on the walls. The installation is very easy on the eyes, not too sparse, not too cluttered.

If able to unglue your eyes from the beautiful ceramics display and further scan the room, it will become apparent that the artworks are divided into sub-categories within the Visions of Place slogan ‘Complex Geographies in Contemporary Israeli Art’. Some of the sub-categories included are: The People of the Past, People of the Land, Contested Geographies, and Diverse Identities. Among those categorizes as The Past in the Present, was a large panoramic photograph taken by Toby Cohen, Sunrise at Masuda, 2008.  The photograph depicts an ancient fortress that has a mix of historical and contemporary importance.

Adi Nes’s Hagar from 2006, is a close-up portrait photograph of a woman deep in thought.  The photograph captures her inner psyche, and is referencing the biblical mother of Ishmael.  Many Palestinian Muslims believe they’re descended from Ishmael, which proves the interconnectivity of Jews and Muslims and their similarity of beliefs.

One of the most overtly obvious displays of the installation is the sheer simplistic, elegant life-sized wedding dress hanging in the gallery, made of silk, by Andi Arnovitz, titled Betrothed to the Land, 2012. Many visitors flocked to this found-object display, as it was very popular.  A personal favorite piece from the exhibition is a huge (49 x 118”) transparency photograph on a lightbox. Two Palestinian Riders, Ben Shemen Forrest, from 2011, by Dor Guez. The photograph has been modified and created to give the fleeting, blurry quality of two Palestinian riders on horseback, riding through trees in the largest national park in Israel. The work represents disputes over the ownership of the park, and how pine trees (also depicted in the photograph) tarnished the land. The artist Dor Guez whom is currently based in Tel Aviv, will be giving a lecture at Towson University on Thursday, March 31, 2016, in the Art Lecture Hall at 6:30pm.

It is no easy feat to successfully blend together the diverse perspectives and dynamic concerns of contemporary Israeli art. The Visions of Place exhibit excelled at creating a comfortable and education environment while maintaining an air of neutrality. The Visions of Place exhibit can be viewed from February 5 – April 3 (closed March 15 -20), and at the Center for the Arts Gallery, CA 3040, at Towson University’s Center for the Arts at 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252. The gallery hours are Tuesday – Sunday 11:00AM until 4:00PM.

Fragonard's Swinging Women

Art in eighteenth century France transitioned in correspondence with the extravagant and lavish lifestyle of aristocrats. Louis XV’s taste and preference for frivolous art, shifted the style and subject matters of paintings—leaving behind the rhetoric and dynamism that were linked with the baroque period. With very light and fleeting subject matters, the Rococo period produced some of the most ornamented and decorative art in history.  Rococo painters generally depict pastoral scenes and landscapes that frame aristocratic figures enjoying leisurely activities—sometimes with sensuous and flirtatious undertones.

Donald Posner’s article The Swinging Women of Watteau and Fragonard, discusses how the usage of the swing in Rococo paintings helped reinforce the subject matter—or lack thereof—in works by Watteau and Fragonard. According to Posner, the swing can symbolize a fleeting quality, fickleness, a woman’s wavering desire or indecision, and the obvious sexual symbolism of swinging back and forth.  Using a swing as a prop in the leisurely paintings of Watteau and Fragonard, tie in nicely with the purpose of the painting, and its intended audience at the time.  Prior to the French Revolution, aristocrats enjoyed many luxuries and pastimes.  Collecting art to decorate their apartments was popular, and showing scenes of love, or love triangles were appreciated.

In his article, Posner frequently referred to the swing as representing a woman’s fickleness and indecision. The Swing by Fragonard, depicts a woman soaring on a swing in a garden, assistant by one man, and being scandalously admired by another, who peeks up her skirt, as her shoe flies off. According to Posner, the swing in the painting refers to an activity that takes place at night, which is reinforced by the artist and the commissioner through the framing trees and the time of day.  The fickleness of the woman is displayed, in regards to the possible interpersonal relationship she has with the two men, and can be interpreted in numerous ways. A flying shoe, according to Posner, can symbolize a surrender to love.

Although Peter Paul Rubens is a painter known from the baroque era, his painting the Garden of Love, has similarities to Watteau and Fragonard’s works. Garden of Love, like other Rococo paintings, uses chiaroscuro, diagonals within the composition, and ornamented landscapes. Watteau and Fragonard have a Rubenist style of painting, preferred over the academic Poussainist style. Peter Paul Rubens’ paintings were a solid example of the transition between baroque into rococo. In the Garden of Love, depicted are figures at leisure, experiencing flirtatious innuendoes in suggestion of frivolous love.  There are similarities between Rubens’ Garden of Love and Watteau’s The Shepherds.  Both paintings depict a group of lovers that are interacting with each other in different ways. The women in both paintings are voluptuous and there is a concentration on their breasts. The women become decorative pieces within the composition. Rubens ultimately paves the way for the painterly style that becomes popular throughout the eighteenth century. Both paintings have compositional diagonals that help lead the viewer’s eye. Initially, glancing at the works, the eye is led to brush over the figures in a transient way, which heightens the fleeting movement captured within composition.

Rubens’ painterly style and locus uberrimus subject matters contributed to the mounting tastes and desires of the French monarch and aristocracy. Watteau and Fragonard were followers of Rubens style and technique. Their depictions of swings in their paintings fit well into the desired taste of the Rococo period.