The Tel Aviv Museum of Art Shows Contemporary Paintings From Berlin

Written by Edith Musselmann Wednesday, 25 January 2012 23:39

Tel Aviv, Israel.- The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is proud to present "I Am a Berliner", on view at the museum through March 24th. What does it mean to speak of "the persistence of painting"? In Berlin today, this expression represents a remarkable diversity of practices ranging from abstraction and realism to highly expressive, narrative, and post-narrative painting. These distinct painterly positions, which are represented by the 18 artists featured in this exhibitions, all involve a self-reflexive investigation of the painterly process and of the nature of contemporary painting.

Painting today is no longer (if it ever was) in a state of reactive apology to the art-critical forces that once sought to extinguish it. At the same time, the hybrid context of international contemporary art production and growing prevalence of mediated information technologies have exploded many ideas related to a fixed definition of a national artistic identity, while the idea of national schools of painting has become largely outmoded. Building on this new reality, "I Am a Berliner" focuses on a single city – Berlin – rather than on issues of national or regional identity, and includes works by a heterogeneous group of artists who are not all German nationals. At the same time, the exhibition seeks to counter the international tendency to see contemporary Berlin as clichéd revival of the Weimar-era city, as well as the assumption that the art produced in Berlin is inevitably shaped by an underlying political motivation. At present, the city of Berlin is being shaped by a whole new series of historical and material realities. Like the individual practices examined in the context of this exhibition, it remains a work in progress, while celebrating a plurality of creative voices.


The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is Israel’s leading museum of modern and contemporary art, and home to one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art. Since its founding in 1932, the Museum has served as one of Tel Aviv’s major cultural hubs, displaying a vibrant mix of permanent collections and temporary exhibitions in a wide variety of fields – painting, sculpture, prints and drawings, photography, video, architecture and design. Situated in an impressive architectural complex, the Museum is an integral part of the city’s major cultural center – the Golda Meir Cultural and Art Center – home to the Israeli Opera and the Cameri Theater. One of the most diverse and dynamic cultural institutions in Israel, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art serves as a hub of activity for the local arts scene. In addition to its collections, the Museum presents performances of music and dance, film, and lecture series on philosophy and art. The fully computerized art library and its Documentation Center for Art in Israel serve over 15,000 students, scholars and curators each year. The library subscribes to the major art journals and receives the latest catalogues of exhibitions of Israeli art, modern and contemporary art, photography, design and architecture. It is the most comprehensive reference center in the Middle East. The Museum’s original building on Rothschild Boulevard has great historical significance: it was there that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, an adjunct to the main building, functions as a showcase and platform for young talents. Opened in 1959, it was beautifully renovated in 1989 with funds provided by the Helena Rubinstein Foundation and the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The Danek and Jadzia Gertner Gallery specializes in changing long-term exhibitions of decorative art. Each week some 1,500 children, youth and adults from all walks of life attend classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, photography, video and computer art, and printmaking at the Museum's Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Art Education Center. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.tamuseum.com

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