Personal Views of Israel : Some of its artists reveal political thoughts and experiences, not familiar notions of the country and its people.

The contemporary Israeli art exhibit at the Finegood Gallery in West Hills may surprise some people.

If one seeks traditional biblical scenes, nostalgic images of bearded rabbis or pretty pictures glorifying the landscape, one will be disappointed. And maybe even a little angry at some points of view in the paintings, prints, photographs, collages and sculpture.

Like artists from any country, the 17 artists represented here reveal personal and political thoughts, influences and experiences in their work. They do not necessarily relate to, and neither are they in sync with, familiar monolithic notions of Israel and its people.

“We wanted to show the community the quality, depth and breadth of Israeli art, and that artists all over the world have something in common,” Rochelle Hoffman said. She and Ruth Steele, members of the Jewish Federation Council’s Art Council in the San Fernando Valley, collaborated with Michael Hittleman, director of the Michael Hittleman Gallery in Los Angeles--which specializes in Israeli art--to organize the show in honor of Israel’s 45th anniversary. April 26 was Israel’s Independence Day.

“Israel is in these artists, but we’re not talking about typical Jewish art,” Hoffman said.

“We concentrated on the more critically acclaimed contemporary artists in Israel,” Hittleman said. “When I first started (my gallery) 17 years ago, there was something provincial about Israeli art. Now, so many Israeli artists have had so many international shows and their work is in museums and collections all over the world.”

Moshe Kupferman uses a narrow range of colors in his abstract compositions. “He works with the same shapes, forms and colors struggling to get it right. It’s almost a religious undertaking, a lifelong search for him to find a grid or a format to map life,” Hittleman said.

Moshe Gershuni portrays his feelings against Israeli involvement in Lebanon in “Terrific Soldier.” Part of a series well-known in Israel, it conveys a sense of the death and destruction that also accompanies those terrific soldiers.

Yeheskel Streichman, who died recently, came out of the tradition of landscapes and cityscapes in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1950s, he belonged to “New Horizons,” a group influenced by artists who came to Israel from Europe with a more international outlook. His abstracted, still-life screen prints demonstrate his “incredibly beautiful, lyrical sense of color light,” Hittleman said.

Gabriel Cohen, of Syrian and French background, paints in the naive tradition. He gives a sense of joy to his imaginative renderings of “Jerusalem,” and what a Sukkot--a Jewish festival--in Venice, Italy, would be like.

Sculptor Aharon Bezalel was born in Afghanistan but came to Israel at a young age. His bronze sculptures of human figures, such as “Gossipers,” and animals, such as “Horses,” are rooted in classic and modern art, but shaped by ideas based upon ancient Hebrew sources.

The husband-and-wife team of Adi Yekuteli, a seventh-generation Israeli, and Esther Zahn, of Japanese and Jewish origin, explore their respective cultures and intercultural relationships. They have created a new work for this show.

Yitzhak Livneh’s brooding but boldly colorful expressionistic painting of a deserted street scene resonates with the alienation of modern urban living. Yocheved Weinfeld’s black-and-white photographic series, “The Sewn Faces,” also stirs up questions about the constraints of contemporary life, particularly on women. Avi Ezra’s self-portrait, in which his face hangs on a coatrack along with a jacket and cap, comments on the fragmentation of modern man.

Michael Druks uses his face as the foundation for a map in “Druksland,” a commentary on the many personal and political influences that make up at least one Israeli artist.

Other artists represented in the show are Ya’acov Aloni, Pinchas Cohen-Gan, Farideh (works courtesy of Posner Gallery), Gabi Klasmer, Ginette Mizraki (works courtesy of Sherry Frumkin Gallery) and Joshua Neustein.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Contemporary Israeli Artists.”

Location: The Finegood Gallery, 22622 Vanowen St., West Hills.

Hours: Opening reception is 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays; through June 27.

Call: (818) 587-3218 for information or docent tours.

Lecture: Michael Hittleman will discuss contemporary Israeli art in the gallery at 2 p.m. June 1.