THE MARK OF CAIN – AND THE MAKING OF AN EXHIBITION

Midnight EasT- an insider's perspective on Israeli culture

7 APRIL 2012BY ANGELA LEVINE

Adi Nes Untitled (Cain and Abel), 2004 

Distressing, controversial, politicized, these are just some of the adjectives that might be applied to the works in Portraits of Cain, the new exhibition mounted at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Featured there are some 100 works, photos, paintings, prints and sculpture by 28 Israeli artists, past and present.

While the story of Cain (Genesis 4 1:16) is the core around which this exhibition has evolved, only a few of the participating artists deal directly and effectively with the act of violence when Cain slew his brother. Most striking, in this respect, are Adi Ness‘s staged  color photos; one depicting the lifeless body of Abel, the other, the fight itself – where the positioning of the figures looks back to a famous painting of Cain slaying Abel by the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. 

Continue reading here, with mentions of Jewish Art Salon members Ken Goldman and Natan Nuchi.

On Wings of Prayer

Laurie Wohl's interfaith exhibit "On Wings of Prayer" travels to First Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC. This exhibit, consisting of 19 Unweavings® fiber art pieces, conveys spiritual narratives through form, color, texture, and calligraphy. 


The words within each piece and the unwoven form that suggests these words serve as a visual midrash of various Biblical texts. The unwoven spaces form symbolic shapes - wings, ladders prayer shawls, veils, trees, falling waters, and the sacred architecture of windows, domes, and gates. The narrative is enhanced by Wohl's own distinctive iconography, indicating guardians,messengers, journeying and praying figures, processional figures.


Exhibit on view till May 28th, 2012.

San Juan Holocaust Memorial Sculpture

A solemn and moving dedication of the Holocaust Memorial in San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 29, designed by husband/wife team Michael Berkowicz and Bonnie Srolovitz, New York-based artists, brought together representatives from many walks of life to commemorate and remember what must never be forgotten – the Holocaust.

Upon their return to New York, the designers said the response they received to their Holocaust Memorial sculpture titled “In the Shadow of Their Absence” was both humbling and a reassurance that art with a purpose matters. “We found that the people of Puerto Rico embraced the vision we created for them to educate a new generation of an atrocity we must never forget,” Berkowicz said. 


The sculpture titled 'In the Shadow of Their Absence", is made of curved panel of weathering steel - with cutout shapes of family and permanent 'shadows' of black granite. The plaza also includes the Path of the Righteous. Location - across from the Capitol building and within walking distance of cruise ship piers. More info here

Detroit Passages: from Synagogue to Church

Every week we feature several artists participating in our current exhibit Silent Witnesses: Synagogues Transformed, Rebuilt, or Left Behind - Artists Respond to History.

Silent Witnesses is an art exhibit organized by the Cultural Heritage Artists Project, in collaboration with the Jewish Art Salon, JWalks and the Holocaust Memorial Center in Metro Detroit, February 22 - end of April.  Exhibit info here.

In the work Detroit Passages: from Synagogue to Church, Linda Soberman and Cynthia Beth Rubin undertook the double challenge of working together for the first time, and of researching/retelling the story of two Detroit buildings that began as synagogues, and, with the passage of time, were transformed into active churches.  

Through long distance telephone calls and emails the artists discovered that they shared an internet in bringing an artist's vision to the stories of the changes that these historic buildings, these "silent witnesses," had seen.  Soberman and Rubin met in person for the first time on a Saturday night in November, 2011.  Their spent that first Sunday morning touring the old Jewish neighborhoods of Detroit, finding the old synagogues and entering the Churches just as services ended and congregants mingled.  Together they photographed, observed, and listened.  Together they allowed the past and present to mingle in their artistic sensibility.

Making Connections - Beth Torah's Art Exhibit

Brooklyn Congregation Beth Torah presents its Inaugural Juried Art Exhibit Making Connections.

April 26, 8 pm.
1061 Ocean Parkway (& Ave J), Brooklyn, NY 11230.

Reserve tickets here 


Participating Artists: Dara Alter, Robin Atlas, Ben-Zion Binder, Elaine Brandes, Shoshannah  Brombacher, Nancy Current, Jennifer Gersch, Victor  Gindi, Siev Grazi, Rachel Haas, Joseph Hedaya, Danny Kedem, Eleni Litt, Jacob Mezrahi,  Aimee Mosseri, Racheli Neumann, Ksenija Pecaric, Carol Philips, Karen Redgreene, Benyamin Reich, Cynthia Beth Rubin, Elke Reva Sudin, Maarten Van Der Heijden, Julian Voloj, Fortune Wahba, Max Weiman,

Now what? The Future of New Jewish Culture - Meeting in NY

After a decade of flourishing, new Jewish culture is losing support and funding. Join a panel of artists, funders and critics to debate the future of Jewish arts and culture in America. May 15, 7 pm at the 14th Street Y, 344 East 14 Street, NYC. More info here.

Omer Counter by Tobi Kahn

The interval between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, between the commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, is marked by the ceremonially counting of omer. Special calendars are used to count off the seven weeks of the omer.

Painter and sculptor Tobi Kahn has created an evocative version of the omer calendar. Saphyr is intended to encourage viewers to engage with Jewish traditions and invest them with personal meaning. The pegs were conceived as miniature houses, each with a unique shape. One can count each day by removing a single peg corresponding to the relevant day and placing it on top, or by removing all the pegs and inserting them back in one day at a time. The interior of the compartments that hold the pegs is painted gold to symbolize the spiritual journy embodied in the interval between Passover and Shavuot.

In the collection of The Jewish Museum. More info here.