THE MARK OF CAIN – AND THE MAKING OF AN EXHIBITION

Midnight EasT- an insider's perspective on Israeli culture

7 APRIL 2012BY ANGELA LEVINE

Adi Nes Untitled (Cain and Abel), 2004 

Distressing, controversial, politicized, these are just some of the adjectives that might be applied to the works in Portraits of Cain, the new exhibition mounted at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Featured there are some 100 works, photos, paintings, prints and sculpture by 28 Israeli artists, past and present.

While the story of Cain (Genesis 4 1:16) is the core around which this exhibition has evolved, only a few of the participating artists deal directly and effectively with the act of violence when Cain slew his brother. Most striking, in this respect, are Adi Ness‘s staged  color photos; one depicting the lifeless body of Abel, the other, the fight itself – where the positioning of the figures looks back to a famous painting of Cain slaying Abel by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. 

Continue reading here, with mentions of Jewish Art Salon members Ken Goldman and Natan Nuchi.