Interview with a Pioneer of Contemporary Jewish Art, Archie Rand

 “I had 2,000 years of commentary to draw on that no artist had touched.”

Archie Rand, an established artist and pioneer for contemporary Jewish art, tells his story in an interview with Michael Stoler in “Building New York – New York Life Stories.”

From the artist: “For the first 20 years or so that I was working with Judaic themes, I was doing what most Jewish artists do, I was acting subserviant to the textual. I was letting the visual illustrate the text, indifference to the rabbinic tradition. I realized that was not going to make memorable art because the verbal had dominance. So what I realized that whatt I had to make the visual the most important thing and the verbal had to take a second place which is a very radical thing to do.”

Watch the interview below or view it on one of the television listings listed beneath the video.

Will debut on Monday, November 21st on CUNY TV, Channel 75 Time Warner, Channel 77 RCN

The show will air:

Monday 11/21 at 10:30 AM: 4:30 PM and 10:30 PM
Wednesday 11/23 at 5:30 AM
Thursday 11/24 at 11:30 PM
Saturday 11/26 at 12 Noon and 12:30 AM
Sunday 11/27 at 6 PM
The show will also air later in the month 6 times on WEGTV Channel 22 in East Hampton & Montauk, Long Island