LISTINGS ART
PUTTING ISRAEL IN THE PICTURE
Quoted Images at Portlolio Gallery until 1 Jun. Not long alterthe birth at Israel in 1948, photographic histories ol its people were issued by the lledgling government. ‘The lmmigrants’ Album' and ‘Ten Years at Israel' were two at several. Filled with handsome soldiers, sturdy lamilies and straight-backed choir girls, these national albums nurtured many at the historical myths that animate Israeli thinking today. Eitan Lee Al’s exhibition ol nine large-scale photographs is a challenge to those cherished sell-deceptions.
Lee Al leels that nationalism distorts. ‘Those albums were Israeli ideology, not true documentary,‘ he says. The lestering Palestinian question is the most conspicuous omission and Lee AI has made this his locus. 0n the original pictures he has projected press clippings lrom the lntilada, nuts, bolts and other metal objects as well as introducing splashes ol red.
One piece is particularly disquieting.
, Againsta swirling black sky, behind the ? silhouettes at two Israeli soldiers, is
One ol Eitan Lee ‘Ouoted lmages'
the lrightened lace ol a little boy. An enormous, red-stained star at David is partly visible over the horizon.
That his work is photo-montage rather than straightlorward photography is very much in keeping with Lee Al’s aims. He wants people to understand that national delinitions are not flat and simple, but layered and endlessly complex. By giving them texture and contusion, he makes the cosy, sanitised sell-portraits sinister and unsettling. They are no longer tidy answers. He has unravelled them and made them into questions.
Not surprisingly, Lee Al prelers not to talk about his symbols and imagery. Alter all, he is trying to get away lrom rigidly collective thinking. ‘I don't want people to be inlluenced by what anybody else thinks. Each individual should have a very personal reaction,‘
he says. There is no accompanying text ' I}
because that would be to prescribe. The last thing Eitan Lee Al wants to do is to swap one sacred cow lor another. (Carl Honore)
more than 500 plates between the late
1880s and the early I930s. a period during which etching gained a popularity unparalleled in later years. I NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND George IV Bridge. 226 4531. Mon—Fri 9.30am—8.30pm; Sat 9.30am—5pm; Sun 2—5pm. George Mackie Until 2 Jun. One ofthe leading graphic artists of this century attempts to explain the ‘invisible art’ of book-binding and the emotional and intellectual considerations that go with it. Book Arts- Art Books: The Book as Art Form Until 2 Jun. Billed as a ‘cheeky‘ juxtaposition with the Maekie exhibition. this is a collection of works examining the frontier where Art means Book. Produced by the French community in Belgium at the turn of the century and within the last fifteen years. the works include modern poems illustrated by Dali, Ernst and Giacometti.
I NETHEBBOW ARTS CENTRE 43 High Street. 556 9579. Mon-Sat 10am—4.30pm. The Preacher and the Goldsmith: John Knox House1490-1990 Tue 7-31 May.
Admission: £1.20/concs £lx‘children 50p.
The newly refurbished Netherbow takes a
look at the last 500 years of its next-door neighbour.
I OPEN EYE GALLERY 75 Cumberland Street. 557 1020. Mon—Fri 10am-6pm. Sat I0am—4pm.
All exhibitions u.itil 30 May:
Joan Gillespie: BecentWorks.
Jane Butler-Cole: Recent Ceramics.
Linda McVeigh: Jewellery.
I PORTFOLIO GALLERY 43 Candlemaker Row. 220 I911. Tue—Satnoon—5.30pm. Eitan Lee AI: Quoted images Until 1 Jun. After the creation of Israel in 1948. the Israeli government published two albums of photographs — The Immigrants'A [bum and Ten Years oflsrael to establish a photographic history for the country and forge a national identity for its inhabitants. In his large-scale colour works. Eitan Lee Al reflects on the profound influence these images had on him as a child.
I PORTRAIT GALLERY Queen Street. 556 8921. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 2—5pm. A recent addition to the collection isa full-length portrait of the Celtic and
EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS
Workshop (5 Caller}
From This Green Earth
Landscape in print by contemporary artists
Alfons Bytautas Tim Cockburn Jane Hyslop Rob Maclaurin Donald McKenzie Neil McPherson Michael Mc Veigh David Morrison Ca thy Outra m Evelyn Pattie Barbara Rae Barbara Robertson Edward Scott Peter Sta nden Frances Walker
Irina Zatulovskaya The Exhibition will run from 1 ltli May - 15th_lunc
We receive support-from the Scott-eh All. eoanu and m: It'dr'nburgh Printmakers is (I non-profit distributing company with charitable status, registered No. If!) (.‘R 405 5-)
23 Union Street EDINBURGH E111 SLR Telephone 051-557 2479
[ 'I'lll-I sco'r't'isu GALLERY ]
94 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 SDI". Tel 031 225 5955
PETER WHITE - Paintings
JAMES MORRISON Paintings of the Canadian Arctic
ANNA LAMBERT - Ceramics 7 - 29 May
Mon-Fri 10—6;Sat 10-1
11 May-3O June 1991 margare't mee’s
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN Mon-Sat 10-5, Sun 11-5
The List 17— 30 May 190171