The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Artist and publisher Amitai Sandy from the Israeli comics collective Dimona Comix has been in touch to let us know about a fascinating-sounding new exhibition of artwork by Israeli comics and graphic novel artists coming up in the Spiro Ark Gallery (25-26 Enford Street, London W1H 1DW, nearest tube station: Baker Street) from February 17th to March 16th (with a special launch night at Under the Westway on the 16th of February). It sounds quite interesting – obviously Rutu Modan’s highly acclaimed Exit Wounds has been flying the flag pretty visibly for Israeli comics creators in the last year and there has been a stream of political cartoons coming out of both Israel and Gaza addressing events (see here for example), but really I suspect most of us don’t get to see that much of the work of many Israeli creators, so this sounds like a very timely and welcome exhibition if you are in the area. From the press release:

“’Taking the bassa with sababa’: to take the bad with a pinch of salt, to stay positive, to see the bigger picture and not let the momentarily depressing grind one down. This purposely confounding English title, adapting daily Jewish Israeli slang based on Arabic Israeli words, is indeed an attempt to encompass the range and complexity of an emerging, dynamic scene of young Israeli art, showcased in London for the first time and exclusively.

(“Tank” by Dula Yavne, one of the artists taking part in the Take the Bassa with Sababa exhibition of Israeli comics art in London, nice juxtaposition of a Nazi-style salute with the eyepatch, iconic of a famous Israeli war hero Moshe Dayan – I’d imagine that combination would raise a few eyebrows in Israel)

Working within the harshness of daily Israeli reality yet constantly balancing the local and political with the personal on one end, and the cosmopolitan/universal on the other, this group of comics and graphic novel artists demonstrate an immediacy and poignancy unparalleled in forms of art that are either too high brow or too market-oriented to be able to truly reflect the lives, ideas and desires of a generation suspended between a 100-year-old conflict and the shopping malls erected around it.

(“God” by Koren Shadmi; God and dinosaurs tend to be at opposite ends of opposing arguments about the creation of the world, so I find this cartoon particularly interesting)

Therefore, this exhibition targets both fans of comics and graphic novels seeking independent frontiers and approaches within the medium, and people who are curious about contemporary Israel and are willing to face a range of artistic expression that defies expectation and refuses easy captions. That can be critically realistic or psychedelically elusive – often both at the same time. Participating artists include: Michal Baruch, Ifat Cohen-Gabai, Roni Fahima, Amitai Sandy, Koren Shadmi, Meirav Shaul, Assia Vilenkin, Dula Yavne and Gilad Seliktar.”