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of materials and injected irony, humor, and sophistication into Israeli art. They used photo-
graphs, everyday objects, dolls, towels, and other materials innovatively to create collages and
assemblages and combined different media: poetry, theater, cinema, electronic music, and
fashion. Their attempts to expand the limits of art were initial steps in the anti-institutional
artistic activity characteristic of the 1970s.
Postmodernism, Rebellion, and the Radical Critique
After the 1973 war, art became more political and critical in its relation to society. One event
was the rebellion in the Bezalel Academy, when radical teachers abandoned painting and
sculpture in favor of alternative, conceptual-material art. In the end, teachers such as Mi-
cha Ulman and Moshe Gershuni were dismissed. The institution returned to its emphasis
on painting, but some students from the rebellion period —Yoram Kupermintz, David Wak-
stein, and Arnon Ben — retained the spirit of political art, which would become central in the
future.
Artists in 1970s Israel used such industrial items as rust-proof wires in sculptures and such
materials as margarine to create images with random effects. They also criticized art institu-
tions in their work. Thus, Benny Efrat blocked the entrance to his exhibition ( Information ,
1972) in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem; Moshe Gershuni painted graffi ti on the walls of the
Julie M. Gallery.
The human body, suppressed by the abstract emphasis of early Israeli art, also returned to
center stage in the 1970s. In 1973, Pinchas Cohen-Gan carved a male fi gure on the walls of the
Yodfat Gallery and called it Place as a Physical Position . This digging into the wall in search of
a nonexistent object was a testimony to the artist's process of defi ning and searching for his
own identity as a Moroccan, a refugee, and an artist, but it also indicated the disorientation of
Israel in general.
Art in this decade questioned the artist, art object, and Israel as a means of improving so-
cial, historical, and political circumstances. Most of the artists were aware of the utopianism
of their performances. In 1974, Michal Na'aman refl ected on the way the state dealt with its
borders by placing two signs on the Tel Aviv beach bearing the words “The Eyes of the Nation.”
The signs were directed westward, toward the water, and were painted in the colors of the sea.
The text came from a soldier's words during the last days of the Yom Kippur War and related
to the capture of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights.
A key concept of artists and cultural fi gures during the 1980s and 1990s, inspiring much of
their radical view, was the belief that Israel could easily obtain peace if it only took the proper
steps. The other side was either ignored, given sympathy, or treated as if it were not a real
threat. Instead, the artists bitterly and angrily blamed conservative and religious forces for ru-
ining Israel and extending the confl ict, especially given their belief (and fear) that the confl ict
would bring disaster to the country.
In his 1981 painting Sing Soldier , Gershuni inscribes the lyrics of a 1942 song by the poet
Ya'akov Orland, “Arise, Please Arise.” The poet encouraged the reader to go out and fi ght;
Gershuni erases the lyrics with layers of color that express an intense mental state and blood.
 
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