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Noah Meets Katrina in “Watershedâ€
7 May2012
Premiering at the LABA Festival 2012 in New York
How difficult  is it to imagine a truly devastating catastrophe? Will calamity come from an instantaneous, even violent change in the landscape, or a slow transformation that could have been prevented? Will we suddenly realize the terrifying future  when the prevention is attainable or when it is too late?
Artist Anita Glesta considers these issues in her use of installations and large scale works to bring awareness of global and social issues by drawing parallels between historical events and specific trends today. One example is Gernika/Guernica  where she brings awareness to the bombing at Guernica in Spain and connects it to the events of 9/11 in the US by creating site specific installations that show the impact both events made on their cities. Her work is a visual discussion of memory, the question of identity, and connects past historical events to contemporary issues, by integrating physical space with large scale installations, and social consciousness.
- In: Events|Exhibition Reviews
- Tags: Installation, NYC, Video Art
By Rivka Nehorai
An exclusive interview with the man behind the motion following the success of his latest exhibtion, Rubicon Drive.
JAN:Tell me about your latest exhibition; what was the theme behind your work in this show?
DAB: The exhibition was called Rubicon Drive. A rubicon is a point at which you’ve gone too far and you can’t go back. Which is like when you are driving to an unknown place, and when you are half way there you realize that you have forgotten your map or GPS, and there is no point in going back because it’s too late. So this is like painting, when you put the paint down you can’t go back, you can cover it up with other paint, but it shows through.
When I pick up the brush I find it very natural to draw certain things. One of those things is animals, so a lot of the work did feature lions, giraffes, etc, but the work was not based on a theme. I have been putting more emphasis on the paint itself, so it is less about the narrative and more about the paint quality.
- In: News
- Tags: Australia, Painting, Street Art
The Anti-Defamation League invites you to JustArt: Justice Advocacy & Art presented at Benrimon Contemporary in New York, May 17th, 2012.
JustArt is the first annual art exhibition, fundraiser and silent auction highlighting the mission and impact of the ADL. JustArt features unique artwork created by over 20 emerging and award winning artists and focus on one or more aspects of ADL’s mission.
General admission includes an open wine bar, hors d’ouevres and music. VIP admission includes a private viewing with the artists and an original JustArt print commemorating the event. Twenty-five percent of all artwork from the silent auction goes to support ADL’s local efforts in New York City.
- In: Events
- Tags: NYC, Painting, Social Action
Jews of Nigeria Shine on Screen (Video)
3 May2012
Travel to Africa and meet members of the Igbo tribe who identify with Israelite origin, and are embracing Jewish tradition with fervor today. Produced and directed by Jeff Lieberman, Re-Emerging: Jews of Nigeria, follows individual stories and collective histories to paint a picture of the Igbo past and present as told from their perspective.
The film presents Igbo engaged in Jewish practices, ie. prayers with African tunes, and men performing the mikvah ritual in a river. Historical references include the Igbo journey from Biblical times up to the 1960’s Biafran War, killing over 1 million Igbo. The journey to connect to Judaism is related in the struggles the Igbo face. Surrounded by colonial influence, the Igbo deal with prejudices from their Christian and Muslim neighbors, and have difficulty connecting to Jews in the West.
Drisha Arts Fellowship 2012 Exhibition
2 May2012
When to pray, Where to pray…Are you telling me how to pray?!
Drisha Arts Fellows Explore Masekhet Berakhot
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
7pm; $10
Drisha Institute
37 West 65th Street, 5th Fl.
New York, NY
RSVP: lleifer@drisha.org
2012 LABA Festival: Blueprint
29 Apr2012
The LABA Festival: Blueprint
5.17.2012 – 5.19.2012
Contemporary art with a Jewish spin, performances and installations inspired by ancient Jewish texts.
Featuring the music of Alicia Jo Rabins, live action puppet cinema by Zvi Sahar, a poetry reading by Eugene Ostashevsky, theater by Michael Bradley Cohen and site-specific art installations by Anita Glesta, Ghiora Aharoni, Tirtzah Bassel and Sam Holleran.
- In: Events
- Tags: Installation, Jewish Artist Groups, NYC
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US Premiere of The Rabbi’s Cat
17 Apr2012
French film “Le Chat du Rabbin†(“The Rabbi’s Cat”) premiers at the Museum of Modern Art in New York
By Michael Brick
Last summer, crowds of enthusiastic French theatergoers welcomed the wide release of Le Chat du Rabbin, (“The Rabbi’s Cat,â€) an adaptation of the exceptionally popular graphic novel by Joann Sfar, who also directed the film. On March 25th, the film had its United States premier at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in conjunction with The Film Society of Lincoln Center, in the program New Directors/New Films 2012.
- In: Exhibition Reviews
- Tags: Europe, Film
Freedom and Choice, the work of Efraim Moskovics
10 Apr2012
By Jessica White, Vienna
Efraim Moskovics is a photographer who challenges form and structure in a peaceful and non-threatening way. He takes familiar rituals and traditions in Judaism, to look at them in abstraction, from a different viewpoint, one that is contemporary and full of rich influences from literature, film and contemporary art. In doing so, he reveals what is within a community, any community, is rich and diverse, with borders that are defined and redefined on a regular basis; it only needs the veil of prejudice to be lifted.
On the Way to Uman
Efraim’s photography brings out historical aspects of faith with modernism. This approach experiments with form and draws attention to processes and abstraction. His work is self conscious and challenges, as Adorno has characterized, conventional surface coherence and appearance of harmony. Yet as Einstein said, as we look at Efraim’s photography it is possible from “Discord to find harmonyâ€. Efraim’s photography is subtle and plays with light to achieve this abstraction, this awakens our interest to see the familiar in an unfamiliar wa y opening contemporary perceptions.
- In: Featured Artists
- Tags: Europe, Photography
Gather the Broken Omer Blog
8 Apr2012
COUNTING THE OMER. fifty days, fifty fragments: one a day, one solid journey.
to gather
1 – to assemble, collate, collect, draw together
2 – to understand, infer
3 – to summon up (a mental or physical attribute such as one’s thoughts or strength)
...and still broken.
broken hearts, broken dreams, broken promises. the bits and pieces that no longer make sense, work or fit. it is our whispered hope that by exploring the fragments, and bringing together the discarded parts, that creativity and new life can begin. gather the broken is a shared omer counting 5772, drawings from Jacqueline Nicholls, commentary from Amichai Lau Lavie.
count begins April 8th 2012
follow at www.gatherthebroken.blogspot.com
Distorting (a messiah project, 13C)
4 Apr2012
Distorting (a messiah project, 13C) by Justin Stewart is an installation depicting the concept of messiah as existed in the 13th century. Fleece is stretched to look like a hard form and is positioned through an intricate web of rope and plastic as a way of using architecture to represent an idea. The installation is curated by Risa Shoup and is on view at The Invisible Dog in Brooklyn through May5, 2012.
- In: Exhibition Reviews
- Tags: Installation, Jewish History, NYC