Last night, trying, excitedly, to summarize “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters,” Emil Ferris’s debut graphic novel — or at least Part 1 of it — for my husband, I hit upon an obstacle: The book, which takes the form of a spiral-bound, three-hole-punch sketchbook/detective case study, kept by 10-year-old Chicagoan Karen Reyes, is kind of,…
In a project melding interfaith dialogue and feminist theory, a Toronto gallery brought together Jewish and Muslim women to study sacred texts. Guided by Toronto artist Rochelle Rubenstein, the women created scrolls that meshed ancient verses with very modern meditations on the female body. The goal: To explore traditional responses to menstruation, breastfeeding and mourning…
Hundreds of artists and dozens of prominent museums around the world have signed a strongly worded open letter calling for a reversal of the ban on entry to the US for citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries. “We the undersigned individuals of the international contemporary art field call for the immediate and total overturning of…
Chaya Chanin, 32, was telling me about the genesis of The Frock, NYC, her online business featuring styles designed for the seriously Orthodox woman who wants to be more fashion-forward. At the same time, her 30-year-old sister and company co-owner, Simi Polonsky, was busying herself taking pictures of us, clicking away on her cell phone,…
If, on January 20th, you intended to drown out the second rate fanfare of Trump’s inauguration ceremony by getting some culture of a different kind, well, you may be in trouble. The New York Times reported on Sunday that a number of prominent artists and critics have signed a statement in support of a general…
‘It is said that the Golem lives everywhere and in all times,” wrote the Polish-Jewish writer David Frishman in 1922. Is Donald Trump the Golem of the current age? That tantalizing question is posed at the beginning of the Berlin Jewish Museum’s exhibit about Judaism’s folkloristic man of clay, starkly titled “Golem,” the name stripped…
Velvet-black smoke pours out of a locomotive looming on the horizon, accentuating the train’s length. It ascends heavenward, but the smoke is no Exodus pillar of cloud guiding the Israelites. This ominous billowing form signals the train’s imminent departure, as armed Nazis herd people aboard. In the foreground, a burly soldier shines a lantern into…
From now until August 14 at the Art Institute of Chicago, there is a quiet yet remarkable exhibit of 100 photographs by the American artist Aaron Siskind (1903-1991) taken from the Institute’s extensive holdings of his work. The work feels like a retrospective as the photographs show such breadth and range in his images, and…
I nearly stepped on the tall, bearded man laying out pairs of big red headshots on the floor of a hallway in the offices of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. It was J.J. Tiziou — who you might know best from the massive photographic installation of “How Philly Moves” between the…
Against a red background, a featureless white head, lacking its crown, opens to reveal a set of white steps descending into a black cavern. A man in profile, the barest combination of ivory skin and black robe, stares down into the almost pleading sockets of a skull in his hands. A shining, simple crown hovers…
Only late in “Eva Hesse,” the new documentary about Eva Hesse’s art and her life, do we actually hear the artist’s voice. Part of an interview she gave to the art historian and writer Cindy Nemser, the audio recording is poignant, even haunting, given that by the time the transcript of the interview appeared as…
100% of profits support our journalism
