Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan at New York Times

Holland Cotter reviews "Here and Elsewhere," a show of contemporary artwork from the Middle East, in The New York Times Arts Section. His review spends time thinking about and praising the work of Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan: publishers of The Post-Apollo Press, as well as painters and writers. This current exhibition at the New Museum features several of Fattal's paintings and includes Adnan's novel, Sitt Marie Rose, and the typescript of her book of poems, The Arab Apocalypse. From Cotter's review:

Hidden behind that noncommittal title is a potentially volatile subject: what the museum advertises as contemporary art “from and about the Arab world.” I winced at the description. After decades of postcolonial consciousness raising, we’ve grown leery of shows that lump sundry unalike cultures together, as this one does with artists from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, not to mention Europe and the United States.

Is it possible, under such circumstances, to avoid stereotypes? Where, within an all-purpose “Arab” theme, should emphasis fall? Should a show play up newsy politics or thwart expectations and play them down? Emphasize individual sensibilities or define overarching trends? To what degree should the market dictate the choice of participants? (A few artists in “Here and Elsewhere” — Kader Attia, Yto Barrada, Susan Hefuna, Wael Shawky — have shown in New York, though most are making local debuts. Several others declined the invitation to appear in an “Arab” context.)

In reality, there’s no right way to go. But if shows like this are the only way, given the provincial nature of the New York art world, that we get to learn about what’s happening across the globe, so be it. And let it be the New Museum doing the job. [...]

The writer and artist Etel Adnan chooses a copy of her 1977 novel, “Sitt Marie Rose,” which she wrote, at lightning speed, about a woman who died in the conflict.

Ms. Adnan, who was born in Beirut in 1925, and now lives in France and California, also has paintings in the show. But her most engrossing contribution is the typescript of her extraordinary book of poems “The Arab Apocalypse,” replete with hand-drawn symbols and annotations.

Despite the prominence of photography and film, this is very much a show about touch. It’s the distinguishing feature of the terra cotta sculptures by the Syrian artist Simone Fattal; of the churning paintings on Egyptian themes — Nefertiti, Constantine Cavafy — by Anna Boghiguian; of Mazen Kerbaj’s witty, nerve-racked visual diary of life in Beirut during the 2006 war with Israel; and of Rokni Haerizadeh’s painted-over YouTube stills of political demonstrations, in Europe and America as well as the Middle East with their half-human, half-animal figures. Such work gives the impression of having been done under tremendous psychic pressure, as much of what’s in the show was, though not everything. [...]

See you at the New Museum—where this show is now on view until September 28th. Hey Bay Area! See Simone Fattal read at Green Arcade this Tuesday!