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Greg Lauren
b. 1970 in New York City; lives in New York City
Selected Exhibitions:
Nate Berkus Association,
Chicago, IL; Art Basel Miami, FL; FIAF Gallery, NY;
Wooster Gallery, NY
Bar Mitzvah Boy,
2010 [
Image on back cover.]
Mixed media; 54" x 18" x 18"
Lauren creates paper sculptures of clothing. Believing that
fashion is an artistic vehicle for self-expression, the hand-
sewn
Bar Mitzvah Boy
not only reflects the creative process
and its medium, but also the artist’s personal identity and
his conflicted feelings at the time of becoming a
bar mitzvah,
of wanting to “please, impress my warm loving, Orthodox
parents and fulfill an idealized role in my own family.”
Peachy Levy
b. 1930 in Providence RI;
lives in Los Angeles, CA
Selected Collections:
Skirball Cultural
Center, Los Angeles, CA; Temple Isaiah,
Los Angeles, CA; University Synagogue,
Los Angeles, CA
Whoever destroys a life it is as if he destroyed an entire world; Whoever saves a life it is as if he saved an entire world,
2010
Appliqué, beading, couching, knitting; 26" x 48" x 2 ¾"
“
I express my passion for Judaism and particularly for Jewish values through Judaic textiles, where I create my own visual
midrashim
and, at the same time, enhance the religious experience for other Jews,
hiddur mitzvah.
”
Levy’s belief that her
spiritual life is enhanced through her art work is seen in her evocation of the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:8, where she
juxtaposes a chaotic, unraveling image with one of order and serenity.
Norma Minkowitz
b. 1937 New York City; lives in Westport, CT
Selected Collections:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; National Museum of American
Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Museum of Arts & Design, NY;
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
The Exodus,
2008
Fiber, mixed media; 26" x 22" x 4.5"
“
I used the uterus as a symbol of rebirth and
Exodus.
I also included images of birds as
spirits of flight exiting the parting sea. A symbolic
Seder
plate recalling the exodus from
Egypt is visible on the front of the sculpture.” Minkowitz’s use of cross hatching and in-
terlacing helps her to imbue mysterious qualities in her work, while still making them
look fragile and inviting to the viewer.