Adam, good evening from Tel Aviv, Israel. Looking forward of reading your articles, and the first-glimpse views on some of the most interesting living artists. Still, wanted to ask you what is your attitude towards Israeli art in general and the young generation of Israeli artists such as Maya Bloch (who has had two solo exhibitions at the Thierry Goldberg Gallery in NY), Elad Lassry and so on, not to mention artists like Yehudit Sasportas, Tzibi Geva, Sigalit Landau. If you are familiar with the Israeli market and artists, I would love to hear why it is hard for Israeli artists to “make it big” in London, NY, etc. on the same scale of success occidental artists have.

Dear Vera,

I really don’t know why Israeli artists haven’t done better in the Contemporary Art market , but I think I can find the answer in your question. By this I mean to say that those Israeli artists have remained for the most part “Israeli”, they have never become simply “artists”. Their nationality is always part of their work, and today , among the top artists in the world, nationality is irrelevant. I think Sasportas and others are interesting, but there is a perception that they never shed their roots and join the global art dialogue. Same is true for “Latin American” art , or “Chinese Contemporary”, these artist are placed in their own categories and even separate catalogues at auction.