A grand showcase of contemporary from India in Israel

A new exhibition of Indian art in Israel holds special interest in a local context, due to the range of affinities between the two countries and due to the growing interest of Israelis in India and in Indian culture. The preoccupation with conflicted identity and multifaceted social and political reality is similarly shared by both cultural fields and seems to serve as a significant catalyst for artistic production. Here are the highlights of this important international show:

• ‘Critical Mass: Contemporary Art from India’, a first major exposure for a dynamic, multi-faceted scene that has been raising worldwide interest, presents paintings, photography, sculptures and installations by seventeen established and young artists.
  
• The works represent India's socio-political reality, replete with upheavals, of the past two decades and express through contents, materials and visual esthetics the rich density that echoes India's familiar visual texture.
  
• Among the participating artists are Ravi Agarwal, Atul Bhalla, Sakshi Gupta, Shilpa Gupta, Subodh Gupta, Ranbir Kaleka, Rashmi Kaleka, Jitish Kallat, Bharti Kher, Riyas Komu, Raqs Media Collective, T.V. Santhosh, Gigi Scaria, Shanthamani M., Sudarshan Shetty, L.N. Tallur, Lochan Upadhyay.
  
• The artworks on view share a number of central thematic concerns: a dynamic tension between tradition and modernity; accelerated urbanization and development processes and their impact on the environment; a critique of consumer culture and globalization; religious tensions and political conflicts; and gender-related issues. Some of the works tend to consciously deconstruct stereotypes and clichés related to national, regional, gender, or class identity.
  
• The preoccupation with these themes addresses, in different ways, the sociopolitical, economic, and technological transformations that have taken place in the subcontinent over the past two decades, and reflects cultural concerns born in the context of a particular time and place.
  
• The works featured in this exhibition have been created in a wide range of mediums including photography, painting, video, sculpture, and installation. Tami Katz-Freiman and Rotem Ruff have served as guest curators of the ambitious showcase. It is accompanied by a Hebrew-English catalog which includes, in addition to the curatorial statement, essays that deal with Indian culture and will cover the major socio-political changes taking place in the sub-continent.