Update: Somewhere Elsewhere Art Exhibit

Update - the Somewhere Elsewhere Art Exhibit got a great review on the front page of the SF Chronicle's Saturday "Datebook" section.

I was lucky enough to meet the exhibit's curator, Sana Makhoul, at Khalil Bendib's solo show opening Thursday night. Sana is an art historian completing her Ph.D. at San Jose State University; originally from the Galilee, she has lived in the USA for the last fourteen years. She studied at the Institute of Art and Design in Jerusalem before coming to America. She's a lovely, personable woman, and she must be commended for putting this show together. Arab and Iranian artists in this country are not well documented or organized. I will be visiting the show if possible before it comes down on November 5.

Congratulations to Sana for her perseverance and vision! And congratulations to all the artists contributing to the group show.

Khalil Bendib's show in Stephens Hall was a real lift. He produces work in three seemingly disparate media: editorial cartoons; ceramic tiles and Islamic style pottery; and bronze sculptures. His whimsical sense of humor and sure hand can be seen in all of these works, however. I particularly liked the bronze head of a Jewish queen, Kehina (sp?), a heroine to the Berbers, who died fighting the Arab invasion of the 7th century. She is portrayed with a spiral scarf dangling below her disembodied head, as if she's floating, and a pair of bronze hands turned palms up at the base of the pedestal. All the bronze pieces are incredibly tactile - figures of hooded men, a tower of male faces topped with a portable phone. The ceramic tiles are gorgeous and at the same time cartoonish, seductive, amusing. The bowls are based on traditional Islamic designs, with Koranic sayings inscribed in spoke-like calligraphy around the rims.

The party was great too - you should have been there! Good food, a Rai band, lovely people, cool old UC Berkeley building on the edge of a stream.

Comments

[Jonathan Edelstein]

The Jewish queen in question is Dahiya (or Dihya, or Dahya, or Dahra) al-Kahina. Unfortunately, she's at least semi-legendary; her exploits make a great story, but they're probably as exaggerated as those of King Arthur.

BTW, is Sana Makhoul part of the same family as Hadash MK Issam Makhoul? She comes from the right place.