Archive for January, 2009
According to her website, Salma Arastu was born in Rajasthan, India, into the Sindhi and Hindu tradition, but later embraced Islam through her marriage. She has been painting for more than 30 years and earned a fine arts degree from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, India in 1974. Her native culture and residence in Iran and Kuwait influenced her “continuous and lyrical line.” She move to the United States, where she still lives, in 1987. Please also see her site for Islamic greeting cards.
MW: Are you comfortable being identified as a religious or spiritual artist? What do the terms mean to you?
SA: I would rather be known as spiritual artist and not religious because in my opinion, spirituality is the essence of any religion. Religion, if not understood correctly, could create differences, spirituality brings together.
MW: Your Islamic greeting cards take a style that involves painstaking detail and a strong emphasis on materials and convert them to digital images. How do you ensure that nothing gets lost in translation?
SA: The technology today is wonderful. Scanners, digital cameras and Photoshop… all this is amazing! I do not have any problems at all in translation. I love doing detailed work as it is kind of a meditation for me. It releases the stress.
MW: In the Allah Tiles series, to what extent is it the artist’s responsibility to ensure that those who purchase series with God’s name treat the tiles respectfully?
SA: I trust the person who is purchasing the tiles to give due respect to Allah’s name. On my part, I do advise if asked, about the display possibilities. If there would be any malicious and disrespectful use and display of the tiles I have the artist’s copyright laws to protect me. So far there has been no occasion for me to invoke those laws.
MW: You write on your site that the tiles were responses to global doubt and disbelief toward Islam. Do you feel that the series helped? Is it dangerous as an artist to measure your success in activist terms? Continue reading ‘INTERVIEW: Salma Arastu, designer & artist’
As everyone is reporting (e.g. here), Brandeis is selling off the 6k works in its Rose Art Museum (website).
The proposed sale is even more outrageous since Rose site lists some great press for its current Hoffman show, including the Globe calling it “… one of the Boston area’s most ambitious shows on modern art in recent times” (link).
If Brandeis sees art as disposable and unessential to its liberal arts mission, one would imagine that the Department of Fine Arts (site), the History of Art program (site), and the Studio Art Program (site) would be soon to follow. After all, it wouldn’t make much sense to sell your chemistry lab and still have a major in chemistry, would it?
The Times picks up on the question of what ramification this will have for Jewish art. Jonathan Lee, chairman of the museum’s board of overseers, told the paper, “This is one of the artistic and cultural legacies of American Jewry,” but the article leaves it at that.
The article fails to mention though that university president Jehuda Reinharz (bio) is also Jewish, and a professor of Jewish history. I’d love to hear more about the museum’s Jewish holdings, and what ramifications, if any, this would have if the pieces get separated or sold to private collectors. (The past exhibits listing has just one Jewish show, which came from Spertus: The New Authentics: Artists of the Post Jewish Generation [site, review].)
Also, the museum site says its collection is larger than 8,000, but all the news stories say 6,000. Can anyone explain that?
My friend Miriam Kagan writes very intelligently on the subject on her blog Generation Y Give.
As in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s “unusual” wall texts surrounding Emily Jacir’s Where We Come From, reports Tyler Green. Just because Jacir’s work touches on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict doesn’t mean it needs a disclaimer. There’s not much to add to Green’s wonderful piece, except that poor Jacir was also included in the show that Spertus censored.
I asked in another Arab American News article why the art world discriminates so much against Palestinian art. Since the piece no longer appears on the AAN site (it got lost in the new interface), it appears after the jump (or you can find it here). Continue reading ‘Sometimes too much explanation is stereotypical’
I chatted over the computer with Rabbi Yosef Loschak of askmoses.com about a variety of topics including what Jewish law has to say about drawing nude models, what constitutes idolatry, and whether art can be a religious enterprise in Judaism. According to his bio on askmoses.com, “Rabbi Yosef Loschak grew up in Australia where he began his Rabbinic ordination. He has been the Director of Chabad in S. Barbara since 1979. He is also the director of the Chabad Chaplaincy program for Jewish inmates in California.” You can see a photo of the rabbi here.
Although askmoses boasts “Human Questions: Heavenly Answers,” and I admit that my questions are very human, I daresay the answers were the same, and quite disappointing at times. I will let you judge for yourself. Since this is a site for readers of all sorts, I’ve tried to explain all the technical Jewish terms. If I missed any, please let me know in the comments. I post this not to embarrass the rabbi or askmoses.com, but for the edification of Iconia readers. (My questions in bold. I have not edited the rabbi’s answers at all, even for style or grammar.)
mwecker : What restrictions does the second commandment place on art-making?
Rabbi Yosef L : Welcome. I’ll be with you in a moment…what’s on your mind
Rabbi Yosef L : 3D art
Rabbi Yosef L : of animals, etc
mwecker : I’m just curious in general what is forbidden today. Thanks!
Rabbi Yosef L : any time
[several minute pause]
mwecker : Also, after you talk about what’s forbidden, I’m curious if there is ever a case where an artist can draw models from life if they are unclothed or partially clothed.
Rabbi Yosef L : no, that is not allowed
mwecker : Not under any circumstances?
Rabbi Yosef L : what circumstances would you think would be allowed
mwecker : Is it allowed for a doctor in training to be working on a nude cadaver?
Rabbi Yosef L : yes
mwecker : Well is it okay for a woman artist to draw a female model?
Rabbi Yosef L : no, it is also immodest
mwecker : Why would an artist drawing a model for work (not for promiscuous reasons) not be the same exemption as a doctor in training?
Rabbi Yosef L : the artist is focusing on the nudity, the doctor is focusing on the internal organs
mwecker : Hmm. Is it also immodest to go to art museums where there are paintings of nudes?
Rabbi Yosef L : in my opinion, yes
mwecker : But the artist is also focusing on the internal. It’s not about the surface, but about the underlying structure.
Continue reading ‘INTERVIEW: Rabbi Yosef Loschak, askmoses.com, on idolatry and Jewish art’
The Leader-Post reports on controversial “busty Virgin Mary models.”
Designer Ricardo Oyarzun, who says he’s gotten threatening calls and had excrement smeared on his doorstep (perhaps by an art critic remembering this or “No Woman No Cry” by this artist?), says:
“There is no pornography here, there’s no sex, there are no virgins menstruating or feeling each other up … This is artistic expression.”
This reminds me of Jean Paul Gaultier, the designer who drew upon Byzantine and Christian art in his fashion design. More here.
Photo: Reuters
My review of Richard McBee’s one-man show in Crown Heights.
Or at least the end of it. “The Book of Job: Pl. 1, Thus did Job continually,” by William Blake. More info here.
My article abhttp://iconia.canonist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/nextbook-obama.thumbnail.jpgout how the inauguration was totally ignored in the services and sermons of a Washington synagogue last Sabbath appears in Nextbook as part of its series: “Postcards from the Beginning: Dispatches from eight Sabbath services on the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration.” The series appears here, and my article is number seven of eight (and it’s on this page).
My article appears in the Washington Jewish Week.
This is a very difficult and problematic post for me to write. As someone who has spent a lot of time painting, writing about art in a journalistic context, and studying art in academic settings, I ought to be ashamed three times over for what I am about to write.
I think that if museums and galleries could get there most important works onto Google Earth (like the Prado did), then “aura” and Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Wiki) be damned: It would be better to stay home and view the works on the computer than to go see them in person.
It’s far more informative (most of the time) to watch the sports games at home with reputable (and cheap) beer on the couch in HD than it is to go out to the ballpark or arena, where there are no instant replays or clean bathrooms. Surely the experience of going to the game is unique and is worth experiencing on occasion, but the default position ought to be the couch; the game is for special occasions.
Looking at Goya’s and Bosch’s work on GE was probably as close to a prophetic experience as I will ever have. It changes everything. No more trying to fix up pixelated JPEGs in Photoshop trying to make them work in PowerPoint (and imagining the painters turning over in their graves every auto-focus or color balance). GE even lets you see more than the painter could have seen her/himself with a naked eye.
Courbet famously said, “The museums should be closed for 20 years so that today’s painters may begin to see the world with their own eyes.” I will amend that. The museums should consider closing for as long as it takes to bring in Google’s super cameras and once they have their bazillion-megapixel images, they should change their schedules from closed on Mondays to open only on Mondays.
A Jewish cultural institution has lost $30m in the Madoff scandal. There seem to be 11,000 young (pressumably Jewish) artists who have benefited from the institution. Notable grant alumni: Daniel Barenboim, Itzhak Perlman, and Pinchas Zukerman. more.
Thanks to Michelle Halm of Loyola Press for mentioning Iconia on her Twitter page (follow her here). Unfortunately, Michelle mentioned the Painting of the Week series, which had sort of gone defunct, so now I have to revive it. I guess I no longer have an excuse for my laziness. Suggestions are always welcome. If I don’t get any, I will pick my own.
Orit Arfa (website) is a painter and a writer on Israeli culture and society and the American Jewish community for The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. Arfa is also an actress and a creative writer.
She grew up in Los Angeles, earned a bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies and a journalism minor from the American Jewish University and a master’s in Bible and Jewish thought from 
JTS. Based in LA, Orit has covered arts and entertainment, travel, lifestyle, and nightlife.
Orit spoke with Iconia over email about her work, about the term “Jewish artist” (about which she gave me a lot of trouble!), and about biblical subjects in her work.
MW: Many critics are uncomfortable with terms like “Jewish art” and “Israeli art,” and many artists avoid them for fear of being pigeonholed. As an arts writer and a painter, to what extent do you identify as a Jewish or Israeli artist? What do the terms mean to you?
OA: The terms “Jewish” and “art” are loaded and subjective terms, so unless an objective definition is offered for each term, and their composite, it’s difficult to answer such a question. But I’ll try to!
I think all artists shy from categorization. I seek a universal appeal to my art, ultimately, so the term “Jewish art” almost becomes an oxymoron.
If I had to choose, I’d probably identify more as an Israeli artist, or maybe even an Israeli-American artist, rather than a “Jewish artist.” My work was very much inspired by living in Israel, the landscapes, and the exploration of Jewish identity in the Jewish State. I don’t think the term “Jewish” in many contexts has a real distinct meaning. Judaism relates to so many aspects of life: race, ethnicity, ritual, religion, ethical principles. Is an artist a “Jewish artist” simply because s/he is Jewish? Is an artist a Jewish artist because s/he creates art directed to Jews? Is an artist a Jewish artist because he renders objects/characters identifiable with Judaism? Likewise, what makes art “Israeli”? Because the artist is Israeli? The scenes take place in Israel?
The differences between Jewish art and Israeli art raise a whole slew of questions relating to Jewish identity in the Diaspora versus the Land of Israel. Can portraits of secular Zionist pioneers be classified as Jewish art? These pioneers tried to break from the Jewish shtetl, and any portraits of them would probably idealize this break from Jewish norms and ways of life. Since these pioneers called themselves “Hebrews,” maybe such art should be called “Hebrew” art?
Then how do we define the term “art.” Would beautifully crafted menorahs fall into that category? Or is “art” restricted to painting and sculpture? What about installation works, television, film?
I perceive (but do not define) “Jewish art” as artwork of images or iconography that can be explicitly associated with the religious/ritualistic/cultural aspects of Judaism, often to inspire religious feeling or connection to Jewish identity: images of Jewish landmarks, religious scenes, Shabbat candles, and the like. In that case, could Rembrandt’s portraits of rabbis or Lorenzo Ghiberti’s “Binding of Isaac” be classified as Jewish art? Maybe.
I can’t say my paintings inspire classically religious Jewish feeling (although if they inspire people to question religious norms, I would consider that “religious”)! I think the best classification of my Biblical series is Biblical art, and they appeal to people of all religions. I have quite a few Christian fans, for example. I would still prefer the plain old term, “artist,” without any qualifiers.
MW: How well do you think Jewish publications cover Jewish art, as opposed to Jewish literature, music, theater, and movies? How interested do you think the Jewish public is in Jewish art?
OA: I see very little coverage of Jewish art (again, what is Jewish art?). Pop culture, music, literature, and theater have definitely dominated discourse in Jewish publications. Then again, I wonder how much coverage of fine art you’d find in any general publication on culture. I’m not sure the reason: is there not enough Jewish art out there to interest audiences? Is fine art too specialized a genre to warrant feature reporting in mainstream publications?
The media seems to be more interested in personalities and entertainment than ideas. Paintings are often the result of a singular vision of one person, whereas music, theater and movies are much more interactive, collaborative and political and ultimately involve many more creative mediums merging into one: poetry, music, design, acting. There is little “star quality” in the fine arts; although this may have been different decades ago. An artist would have to execute something really spectacular and provocative or hold an exhibition at a very prestigious venue to get serious coverage in mainstream publications.
But probably one of the main reasons: artists can’t really afford publicists! So here’s my shameless pitch: my paintings are living alone with my relatives in Israel, and I would love a safe exhibition hall or gallery to display them.
Continue reading ‘Interview: Orit Arfa, artist and writer on Jewish culture’
No discussion of religious art can be complete without also considering the question of idolatry. Usually when I’ve found idolatry come up in my Google Alerts and in the sermons I listen to (from rabbis, imams, pastors, and priests alike), it is a metaphorical discussion, as in “the idolatry of American materialism” or “idolatrous greed.” Here are three examples that literally point back to the Second Commandment.
Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque, a.k.a. the Grand Mosque, reflects a “bending” of the rules of idolatry to allow for a statue of Sheikh Zayed, who was president of the UAE federation for 30 years, writes Rob Woodburn. more.
“Now, we’re not kissing the glass or the paper or the paint or the wood. We are kissing the individual that this icon represents,” says Rev. John Sardis. more.
“To those who say it is idolatry to portray God as a black woman, [Rev. Chris Buskirk] said that God, who is infinite, often appears in the Bible in finite form to accommodate man’s limited understanding.” Bushkirk is talking about a book in which “God the Father is a large, black woman with a broad smile and an easy laugh who swings her hips when she sings and loves to cook. She calls herself Papa.” more.
I covered the topic “Are drawing and painting haraam?” in The Arab American News, but the article is no longer on the site. You can find it here through archive.org, or pasted after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Three idolatry stories’
After mocking my girlfriend a good deal for her tweeting (I even drew her a Tweety Bird in the Paint program), I decided to jump aboard. Now I am regretting having stayed away for so long. In particular, three folks have been really helpful and generous with their time. If you Tweet, you should definitely check out their pages and follow them: the Twitter “wizard” from the Getty Museum (page here), James G. Leventhal, marketing director at the Judah L. Magnes Museum (page here), and painter CJ (page here). Even in a very short time on the site, I am realizing that Twitter is a really great community to plug in to. On the other hand, I am finding the religious folks and institutions much harder to track than the art ones. If you have suggestions, please let me know.
Specifically,
panoramic Rocky Mountain scenery in two of its ordinance rooms by Utah artist Linda Curley Christensen and Colorado artists Keith Bond. Most historic is a 1922 oil painting that used to hang in the former Draper Tabernacle, depicting the Angel Moroni’s visit to church founder Joseph Smith to deliver the Golden Plates.
more.
Make it Columbia J School’s conversation about Twitter. Access it here. If you don’t already know it, visit Sree’s site too. Calling Sree.net useful is a huge understatement as you will see.
Coo-ees from the Cloister warns, don’t forget the Holy Grail, or at least what some argue to be the famous relic. more.
Seeing Hispanic worshipers yield their seats after mass for the incoming Eritrean 
congregation, Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, archbishop of Atlanta, saw a symbol of diversity, which ultimately draws from Christian artistic traditions.
“Neither seemed out of place as the Eritreans in festive garb traded places with the young Hispanic altar servers,” wrote the archbishop in his column What I have Seen and Heard. “The church welcomed both groups, and both communities were aware of comfortably belonging to a common church home.”
This reminded the reverend of the Magi:
Artistic depictions of these three usually have them representing the racial diversity of humanity. In truth, we know very little of these three biblical figures and even less as to how their relics might have ended up in Cologne. Yet the heart of Faith tells us that they stand in for all of us in our diversity coming to the Infant who is the Savior of the world … Each king in Christian art comes to the stable dressed in native garb and with facial distinctions that remind all of us that we belong to the Mystery of Christmas and God’s plan of salvation.
Read the entire piece here.
Qatar has three more museums in the works: one addressing Orientalism, another photography, and a third contemporary and modern Arab art. If it can pull all these off successfully, Qatar will surely have to be thought of as one of the most important places for the arts in the world. more.
My review of Academy Award-nominated actor Theodore Bikel at TheaterJ appears in The Jewish Press.
Here’s the info:
Sholom Aleichem: Laughter through Tears
By Theodore Bikel
Derek Goldman, director
Tamara Brooks & Merima Ključo, music
Through January 18, 2009
Theater J, Washington DC JCC
1529 16th Street, NW, DC
This is my 1,000th post, just in time for the new year!
With an even larger Jesus sculpture. The mayor says it’s not “grandeur” they are after, but “visibility.” It seems to me though that the builders of the Tower of Babel were also after visibility. I wonder if Jesus would have denounced this as idolatry. more.
The new show “True Beauty” (site) is on the TV across the room, and I am catching snippets. It’s no surprise that when I go to the site an ad for Jillian Michaels (of Biggest Loser) pops up. There’s a dramatic moment where a not-so-pretty hostess tells a not particularly attractive contestant that she is being judged in the show not just for her outer beauty, but (gasp!) for her inner beauty as well. The contestant pretended to be as shocked as I was by this declaration.
There ought to be something here for people who care about religion and art — is not the intersection of the two the true domain of beauty? — but so far the show just seems to be about telling moderately attractive people that they aren’t truly beautiful because they are obnoxious to other contestants. It’s not surprising this show is a flop.
I guess there was no chance that a show produced by Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher would truly interrogate Proverbs 31:30, “Favor is a lie, and beauty is nothingness, a woman who fears God — she should be celebrated!”
Such is ADL Chairman Abe Foxman’s “logic” in an interview with Joel Stein of the LA Times. In the article, Foxman argues that Jews absolutely do not control Hollywood (~X), but people who happen to be Jewish run Hollywood (sort of X). Foxman rounds out his postmodern charade by taking pride in the tremendous achievements of the happen-to-be Jews who sort-of run Hollywood (X). Either Jews run Hollywood or they don’t. It can’t simultaneously be an anti-Semitic stereotype and something of which to be proud. Stein’s piece is hilarious and worth reading in its entirety.
Meet Ahmad al-Shugairi, the newest of the “satellite sheiks.” more.
“Get into the coveted zone and then renounce the zone,” writes Noa Jones in a very long meditation on religion and creativity. more, HT: Just Get There.
“If you have the slightest interest in religious art, or Francis, or anything of that sort,” go see the replica of Francis’ Porziuncula church in San Francisco, writes Balabusta in Blue Jeans. more.
“The greatest piece of religious art made in the late 20th century.” By the late Robert Graham. more.
Turkish nightclub designer Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu also designed “the most modern mosque that Istanbul, and Turkey, has ever seen.” more.
From British award-winning poet, Sean O’Brien:
Katyusha, Katyusha/ Arrow of fire:/ Kingdom Come, is it / Below or above?/ Choked in a tunnel/ With morphine and bread,/ Or charred in the wreck/ Of an olive grove?/ Katyusha, Katyusha,/ Spear of desire,/ Are there green pastures,/ A brave desert rose,/ Or must it be prison/ With pillars of flame?/ Katyusha, Katyusha,/ A grave, or a rose?/ Katyusha, Katyusha,/ God only knows.
Full story at CBC.
Sidney Callahan’s piece in America titled “God and Self-control?” has got me wondering whether religious artists show more restraint than non-religious ones. Callahan cites a NY Times article that argues that “religious belief and piety promote self-control.” At first blush it seems ridiculous to suggest that an artist’s religious beliefs would in any way impact her or his paint-handling, but perhaps an artist who sees art-making as a religious act will in fact infuse each line and tone with a religious calling. I’d love to hear what others think about this. Are religious artists more likely to resist the temptation of adding too much red, muddying colors, or over-complicating compositions?
Photo from the Salem Gazette. WBZ reports that the 200-year-old church weighs 1,100 tons.
