Bar Mitzvah of Joy

Acrylic on Canvas   2019    80" x 60"
Original Painting $8,000
Art Prints available on canvas or glass
 
Series of Joy:
While painting in the Old City of Jerusalem, my work became infused with spirituality. It was not a conscious choice, but it seeped into the artwork of its own volition. On my walks through the alleyways, I felt the history of the city deep in my bones - both biblical and everyday experiences that lived in this ancient city.  Their voices too found a place in my paintings. For this unique period and place, I developed a new technique, working with light and aerosol spray paint to give expression to the spiritual and ephemeral, laying the groundwork for these themes.
 
An emotion began to emerge in my works: Joy. Because Judaism can be serious, but it is also fun. Throngs of people danced through the streets of the Old city, music playing as they led the Bar Mitzvah boys to the Kotel. Rowdy tourists, Israeli soldiers, schoolchildren and men learning Torah. So much joy and happiness bounded through the Jewish Quarter. It struck me that Jerusalem is not only about the past, it is not only about religion, it is a place to live and love and laugh in now. 
 
Paintings about Judaism & Jerusalem became infused with happiness and delight. My existing styles of paintings grew in a surprising way, not in maturity, but in playfulness, while whole new approaches to paintings bubbled to the surface.
 
                      SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS   Psalms 100:2    עבדו את ה בשמחה בואו לפניו ברננה