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May 7, 2010
An artist’s assault on the senses
Israeli-born, New York-based Drew Tal is catching critics’ attention for his photographs.
KELLY HARTOG ISRAEL21C
He may have no formal training, but the daring work of Israeli artist Drew Tal, which mixes photography with other mediums, is catching the attention of critics across the United States.
To say that the Israeli-born artist/photographer’s work is an assault on the senses would be an understatement. Nothing can quite prepare you for either Tal’s searing images or the mixed medium he uses to create his work, which is as riveting as it is unapologetic. As yet, no term has been coined for these creations, which even Tal simply says is a medium somewhere between a painting and a photograph. His layered works may be printed on handmade paper, canvas, metal or silk.
Tal’s most recent New York solo exhibition, On Edge, was at the Emmanuel Fremin Gallery in Soho last month. It was a huge coup for the Haifa-born artist who has called the Big Apple home since the early 1980s. It’s only been in the last four years, though, that Tal has really made his mark on the prestigious New York art scene.
Tal describes his work as “a personal investigation across cultural bounds into the underlying human themes and common spiritual threads found in religious, mythological and sexual expression.”
One critic described him as being “in the forefront of a nascent movement of post-modern romanticism ... with a gifted photographic artist’s ability to imbue humanistic and spiritual themes with the eye-catching impact of a high-end advertising campaign.” Another said he has a “special gift to make idealized human faces and figures speak volumes about the conflicts between the flesh and the soul.”
That’s not faint praise for an artist who has had no formal training per se, though he did study architecture for four years. When it comes to art, fashion and photography, Tal said, it’s all self-taught. From architecture, he moved into fashion photography and eventually into the art world. Nonetheless, he said that much of his work is still influenced by his Israeli roots.
“I always acknowledge my Israeli roots. As a matter of fact, the first line of my artist statement starts with: ‘Growing up in Israel ... was a blessing for me,’ ” Tal said.
That blessing, he said, stems from the fact that he grew up in the 1960s, “as Israel was absorbing millions of immigrants from all over the world, and that colorful mosaic of languages, costumes and customs has opened my eyes to the exotic, and taught me that the world beyond was a vast and fascinating one.
“Many of my art pieces are portraits of ethnic faces, dressed in their native garb, just the way I remember many of my traditional Arab and Sephardic neighbors in Haifa. And many of my portraits are of nostalgic reflections of my childhood,” he explained.
Those “portraits” though are hardly traditional. Tal began experimenting with digital imaging software shortly after Photoshop was introduced in 1990.
“When most photographers looked down at this new medium, I kept experimenting with it and learning the unlimited possibilities hidden within it. Imaging software allowed me to use my computer mouse as a fine-art tool, like a painter uses his art brushes. Suddenly I could merge and infuse images. I could create textures, depth and effects that conventional film could not do. It became a powerful tool for expressing myself,” he said.
Tal’s recent exhibit was a collection of spiritual, Asian-inspired works created between 2005-2008, as well as a dozen very recent works that have never been seen before. Tal describes them as having a “more edgy, confrontational and provocative nature.”
Faces contorted in pain, bodies consumed by fire, people wracked with anguish, naked men blindfolded and tattooed with expressions in both Hebrew and Arabic are just some of the searing images that leap out from Tal’s canvases. They’re difficult to look at and even more difficult to forget.
In his artist’s notes, Tal wrote that the exhibit represents his feelings about war, suffering and social injustice. However, he said none of the work was inspired by or connected to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“When it comes to social injustice, I have tried to bring attention primarily to unfortunate political and societal situations in Asia – the systematic oppression of the Tibetan people by the Chinese government, the human rights violations taking place in countries like Cambodia, Burma and India – or the suppression of women’s rights in many Muslim societies,” he explained. “So far the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has inspired frustration in me, not artistic expression,” he added.
Beyond this exhibit, Tal’s work includes myriad pieces broken down into galleries on his website. One of them, “Sinless,” experiments with iconic Christian and Catholic images.
“Heroic themes from the Torah, such as the stories of Esther haMalka (Queen Esther), Avraham Avinu (the Patriarch Abraham) and David haMelech (King David), are sure to find their way into my work in the future,” he promised. “I am inspired by the strong character and conviction they represent.”
Tal, whose entire family still lives in Israel, said he also has plans to show his work to various galleries in Tel Aviv on his next visit. “I’m just starting to learn about the art scene in Israel.... And from what I’ve seen so far, Tel Aviv has a vibrant, current and relevant art world with a global appeal and a lot of promise.”
He confessed to only having been back to Israel about a dozen or so times since he left in 1981 after completing his army service. “But I grow increasingly sentimental towards haAretz (the land) so I have started visiting more often,” he said.
He said he’s also inspired by the growth he’s seen in the Israeli art market. “Back in the ’80s, the art market was inactive, limited and conservative relative to the United States, where controversial photographers like Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber, exhibiting erotic, graphic and provocative images, were thriving. The situation [in Israel] has changed remarkably since then,” he said.
For now, though, he’s busy with his current exhibit. Next up are two art fairs in New York and a solo exhibit in Santa Fe, N.M., in May, a surrealist group exhibition in New York in November and another art fair in Miami in December.
With a number of successful exhibits in New York over the past four years, does Tal feel that he’s “made it”?
“Definitely,” he said. “At every opening night, as the guests are starting to arrive, I have to pinch myself.”
Tal recently published Face to Face, a 62-page book comprised of two series, Facing East and On Edge. Visit drewtal.com for information and to view the artist’s work.
ISRAEL21C is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.
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