At LA Museum, A Powerful And Provocative Look At 'Islamic Art Now'

NPR | NEWS 
By Susan Stamberg

Curator Linda Komaroff says the woman in Susan Hefuna's Woman Behind Mashrabiya I is "very mysterious — and deliberately so." Los Angeles County Museum of Art

CALIFORNIA---Art galleries are generally quiet, hushed spaces, but at the Los Angeles County Museum a show called Islamic Art Now is sparking some heated discussions as visitors ponder the photographs, paintings and neon sculptures on display. Some provocative images may feel very different from Western experience. These artists are from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait, Israel. "Islamic Art Now: Contemporary Art of the Middle East" is indeed about beauty. It's also about values, religion and a clash of cultures. And its provocative, dramatic, powerful images linger in the mind. [link]