JERUSALEM.- The Israel Museum presents Bizarre Perfection, an exhibition that celebrates virtuoso artistry and masterful craftmanship across cultures and throughout time. On display are fifty works created in a variety of labor-intensive techniques by artists spanning the millenia—from unknown ancient craftspeople to such contemporary artists as Tom Friedman, Liza Lou, Ron Mueck, Roxy Paine and Yoshihiro Suda. Drawn from the Israel Museum’s encyclopaedic collection and also featuring a number of exceptional international loans, Bizarre Perfection is the second in a series of exhibitions designed to emphasize illuminating connections among works of art from across the breadth of the Museum’s permanent collections.

“In a world inundated with mass-production and enamored with technology, we are delighted to offer our audiences a celebration of creative workmanship and dazzling technical skill,” said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. “From anonymous ancient craftspeople to known contemporary figures, these artisans and artists demonstate a special reverence for—and even obsession with—detail, producing works so exquisite that they inspire amazement and even disbelief.”

On view from December 20, 2008 through June 6, 2009, the exhibition features a variety of works that cross the traditional boundaries between art and craft, juxtaposing examples of contemporary sculpture and installation with 19th-century Italian micromosaics and 4th-century BCE golden necklaces from southern Russia. Highlights include:

• Liza Lou’s Kitchen (1991-1995), uses millions of colored glass beads to create an environment inspired by this prototypical symbol of the American suburb experience. A contemporary twist on the age-old tradition of beadweaving, Kitchen magically transforms a familiar setting into a tableau of extraordinary objects that dazzle the eye.

• Steve Wolfe’s Untitled (Vanguar/Cook’s/Sapporo/Durham’s/Campari Cartons), 2001–2003, at first glance appears to be a set of three cardboard cartons filled with books. Rather, Wolfe presents a set of unique replicas of these mass-produced items, each of which takes months to create.

• A wrist rest carved with “100 Children at Play”(China, 19th century). The back of this ivory wrist-resting implement, used for support while writing, is intricately carved with figures of boys engaged in a range of activities, a visual reference to the blessing of having many male offspring.

• Five Scrolls written in micrography in four languages by scribe Aaron Wolf Herlingen (Vienna, 1748). This single, illustrated sheet contains texts from all five scrolls of the biblical writings (Ketuvim): Ecclesiastes and Esther in Hebrew, the Song of Songs in Latin, Ruth in German, and Lamentations in French.

“Throughout time and across all regions of the world, a great range of stimuli have compelled artists of different cultures to push their creative abilities to the limit,” said exhibition curator Suzanne Landau. “Perhaps this has to do with a profound need and longing to produce tangible things—objects from everyday life—that are at the same time awesome and enduring and to perform acts of creativity that echo the divine.”