Garden of Eden Exhibit Takes Artists Back to Where it all Began

THE WASHINGTON POST

By Chris Herlinger | Religion News Service

"Gowanus" (2013) by Alexis Rockman

NEW YORK---Environmental themes are particularly prominent in “Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden,” which is on view at the museum through Sept. 28. The nearly two dozen pieces on display include paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and installations containing video elements. Of particular interest to the environmentally minded, and those who like large-scale paintings, is Alexis Rockman’s striking and dystopian “Gowanus,” a 2013 work depicting the Gowanus Canal, a long-polluted Brooklyn site that, as museum notes describe it, is notorious among New Yorkers as a “toxic wasteland” reflecting “the disastrous potential for the destruction of nature” by humanity. [link]

Museum of Biblical Art: “Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden,” (Ends Sept. 28); 1865 Broadway at 61st Street, NYC; mobia.org

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On the Bowery, Questions About the Catholic Church’s Shifting Mission

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By David Gonzalez

The Sheen Center complex encompasses 2 Theaters, 4 rehearsal studios and an Art Gallery.

NEW YORK---The Bowery was once synonymous with being down and out, but, Mr. Howard said, services for homeless men have become harder to find there. He used to work at the Holy Name Center for Homeless Men, a stalwart presence on Bleecker Street since the 1940s, where each day about 100 men took morning showers, grabbed a meal and got their mail. The Archdiocese of New York closed the center in 2011, citing “changing demographics” and low demand. It renovated the building and turned it into a Roman Catholic cultural center containing a 250-seat auditorium, a black box theater, rehearsal rooms and a small gallery. The building will also house eight campus ministry volunteers. [link]

Men lined up outside St. Joseph House on the Lower East Side on a recent morning.

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Gertrude Stein’s Legacy Lives On in Pop-Up Art Salons

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Marisa Meltzer

NEW YORK---On a Saturday afternoon in Chelsea, a group of a few dozen people milled around the International Print Center New York, drinking Champagne and making small talk about the show New Prints 2014/Winter. But this wasn’t a gallery opening, nor was it an artist’s talk. Rather it was a salon by Gertrude, a new company organizing events to discuss art. The company is named for the writer and art collector Gertrude Stein, who was well known for the gatherings of artists and writers she organized in her apartment on the Left Bank of Paris. [link]

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Palestinians and Arabs Hang Tough at the New Museum

ARTNET NEWS
By Christian Viveros-Fauné

Installation view, “Here and Elsewhere.” Photo: Benoit Pailley, courtesy New Museum, New York.

NEW YORK---At times walking through the New Museum, with its more than 13 hours of film and video, can feel like an Islamic Cultural Center revival of the French Nouvelle Vague. Early on in their contentious essay for the catalogue accompanying “Here and Elsewhere,” the New Museum’s sprawling, sometimes trying, yet illuminating exhibition of recent art from the Arab world, the show’s curators ask a remarkably timely question: “Is it possible to imagine a history of art that is completely divorced from cultural or social histories?” An exhibition that brings together 45 artists from 12 countries working in different media and from different cultural contexts, “Here and Elsewhere” makes a silk purse from the sow’s ear that is the “progressive” response to exhibitions with a geographical remit. [link]

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Art in New York. Masterpieces & Curiosities. A Russian American Quilt at the Jewish Museum

YAREAH MAGAZINE 

Quilt, Russia and United States, c. 1899, velvet: embroidered with wool, silk, and metallic thread; glass beads. The Jewish Museum, New York, Purchase: Judaica Acquisitions Fund, 1986-119

NEW YORK---Showcasing a colorful patchwork quilt bearing Eastern European and American imagery, Masterpieces & Curiosities: A Russian American Quilt continues a series of exhibitions focused on individual works in the Jewish Museum’s world-renowned collection. On view from August 22, 2014 to February 1, 2015, this exhibition highlights a rare quilt (c. 1899), a fascinating expression of the acculturation process undergone by newly arrived immigrants. The quilt was owned by a Russian Jewish family that likely arrived in America during the late 19th century and incorporates imagery from both cultures. Also included in the exhibition are related works from the Museum’s collection which feature Russian motifs or reflect a conflation of Russian and Jewish traditions, items of Americana that provide context, and a few works from other collections. [link]

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Theatre Review: ‘The Pianist of Willesden Lane,’ a Jewish Girl’s War Story

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Charles Isherwood

Mona Golabek as a Jewish teenager who escapes the Nazis in “The Pianist of Willesden Lane,” at 59E59 Theaters.

NEW YORK---“The Pianist of Willesden Lane,” which opened on Tuesday at the 59E59 Theaters, tells the remarkable story of Lisa’s years in wartime London with an economy of means and a simplicity that only enhance the emotional effect. Packed with startling setbacks (the house at Willesden Lane is destroyed during the Blitz) and equally dramatic triumphs (against all odds, Mrs. Cohen has it rebuilt), it’s the kind of tale that would probably seem melodramatic if it were fiction. “Never stop playing,” her mother told her just before she boarded the train in Vienna, “and I will be with you every step of the way.” Lisa took the words to heart. Spiritually speaking, her fingers never left the keys, because only through her music could she maintain a connection to the vanished happiness of her Vienna childhood and the love of the family she feared lost forever. [link]

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Bible Museums Across the U.S. Range from Scholarly to Colorful

MCDONDOUGH VOICE
By Kelsey Dallas

Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C.

In a few years, families won't be limited to exploring presidential monuments or walking along the National Mall on vacations to Washington, D.C. They'll also have access to a new Bible museum, scheduled to open in 2017 just a few blocks away from some of America's most famous tourist attractions. The project is sponsored by the family that owns Hobby Lobby. Its nonprofit organization, Museum of the Bible, also funds a traveling exhibit of biblical artifacts and a Bible curriculum for high school students. [link]

Further clues can be found in the Bible exhibits already in operation. Check out these unique sites across the country, which range from scholarly to colorful:

1. Museum of Biblical Art, New York City
2. Dunham Bible Museum, Houston
3. Library of Congress Bible Collection, Washington, D.C.
4. Museum of Biblical Art, Dallas Opened in 2013
5. Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C. 
6. The Bible Museum, Goodyear, Arizona
7. BibleWalk, Mansfield, Ohio 
8. Treasuring the Word, Sevierville, Tennessee

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Travel: An Edification Vacation in Chautauqua, NY

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Lisa Schwarzbaum

John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, lectures at the Chautauqua Institution.

NEW YORK---A week at Chautauqua is a microcosm of what we can make of our lives, if only we remember to slow down and pay attention. For nine weeks every summer, the 750-acre campus is a cheery, low-keyed welter of lectures, classes, concerts, theater, dance performances and art exhibitions. It’s a place — far from Westchester — in which I spent a happy week last month, drawn to a hidden utopia that has, over the years, welcomed Mark Twain and William Jennings Bryan, Franklin Roosevelt and Sandra Day O’Connor. Opportunities for spiritual uplift continue to figure prominently on the daily agenda, with services conducted every morning. But the extended denominational menu now includes Roman Catholic, Unitarian, Christian Science, Quaker, Jewish and Zen Buddhist gatherings, and Friday Muslim prayer. [link]

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Art Review: ‘Back to Eden,’ at the Museum of Biblical Art

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ken Johnson

Detail of "Neither Shall You Touch It" by Anonda Bell

NEW YORK---It’s one of the greatest stories ever told, the Bible’s tale of God, Adam, Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, as related in Genesis 2:4 to 3:24. Derived from Babylonian mythology, it circulated in Jewish oral tradition before being written down in the 10th century B.C. It’s both a strength and a weakness of the exhibition that it leaves you with many more questions than answers. What does Eden represent? A state of mind? A social utopia? An environmentalist dream? A memory of prenatal bliss? Union with the divine, whatever that might be? What would it take to get back to Eden? Perhaps art is a way to sneak back in — if only for occasional brief visits. [link]

“Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden” continues through Sept. 28 at the Museum of Biblical Art, 1865 Broadway, at 61st Street; 212-408-1500, mobia.org. 

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In Brooklyn, a Trove of Hebrew Books From Centuries Past

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Allan Kozinn

A page from Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah from 1574.Credit The Chabad-Lubavitch Library

NEW YORK---The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a Hasidic group known for its outreach to Jewish communities around the world, has amassed one of the largest collections of rare Jewish manuscripts and books anywhere – on the order of 250,000 items, including some that go back to the 11th century or earlier. The exhibition is open Sundays through Thursdays, noon through 5 p.m., and Fridays, noon through 2 p.m. at Chabad’s headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It will run through at least February. [link]

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Raelian Swastika Campaign Calculated to Stoke Controversy

RELIGION DISPATCHES

History of the Swastika in world religions

ARIZONA---This weekend a plane flew over Coney Island and the Rockaways towing a banner with a swastika and an ad for proswastika.org, a new initiative by the Raelians—a religious movement that believes humans were created by ancient extra-terrestrials, and whose insignia is a swastika inside of a hexagram. According to Raelian spokesperson Thomas Kaenzig, the swastika was brought to Earth millions of years ago by our alien forefathers, which is presumably why Raelians believe the symbol appears in cultures all over the world. This weekend marked the end of “International Swastika Rehabilitation Week,” part of an attempt to reclaim the symbol from its Nazi associations which also featured street activism in Las Vegas. [link]

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Conceptual Artist Nina Yankowitz Plays Word Games With Sacred Texts

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Joyce Beckenstein

A mannequin styled as a priest, one of five “robotic devotees” in the exhibit.

NEW YORK---The artist Nina Yankowitz is known for projecting words in glass houses, and oh how they can shatter the place. For “Criss-Crossing the Divine,” her current exhibition at Guild Hall in East Hampton, she takes on sacred texts. “Criss-Crossing the Divine” combines scriptures, digital games, video art, three-dimensional animation and robotic avatars. Examining intolerance through the lens of five major religions — Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism — the lively, intuitive piece provides visitors with a different way to experience art, despite its rather serious implications. [link]

Nina Yankowitz: “Criss-Crossing the Divine” is at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton, through July 27. Information: guildhall.org or (631) 324-0806.

In addition to a priest, mannequins depicting a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu and a Muslim greet visitors.

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Famed Jewish Composer's Hilltop Home Comes With a Surprise Buddha

CURBED.COM
By Lily di Costanzo

NEW YORK---Formerly home to late Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize-winning (whew) composer Marvin Hamlisch, this hilltop property in Bedford, N.Y., just hit the market for $7.95M. And though the place was originally built in 1968, it underwent a major renovation effort four years ago, leaving behind pretty, neutral-hued decor and exactly one massive, totally unexpected buddha mural. [link]

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When Snakes Could Walk: Contemporary Artists Take On the Garden of Eden

HYPERALLERGIC
By Allison Meier

Mark Dion, “The Serpent Before the Fall” (2014), installed in ‘Back to Eden’
at the Museum of Biblical Art (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted)

NEW YORK---In a 1483 German Bible, the Garden of Eden is depicted as a corralled green circle; Adam and Even are ejected from its manicured grass to a hilly wilderness, with a trail leading off into the unknown. This idealized interpretation of original sin sits alongside more modern takes on our relationship with our environment — where the downfall of humanity is much less refined — in the Museum of Biblical Art’s (MOBIA) "Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden." At the preview for the exhibition, MOBIA Director Richard P. Townsend explained that he sees it as important to “show contemporary art as integral in the profound impact the Bible has had on tradition” by “looking critically at the good and bad.” [link]

1483 German Bible

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New Generation of Orthodox Jewish Women Artists “In Progress” at Stern College Exhibit

JEWCY | TABLET MAGAZINE
By Isabel Fattal

Stern College’s senior art show, on display through July 13, celebrates the process of creation

NEW YORK---The fifth annual Stern College Senior Art Exhibition, on display at Yeshiva University Museum through July 13, showcases the work of this year’s graduating Studio Art major. The theme, fitting for a student show, is “In Progress,” and it is the process of creation itself that is being celebrated. The senior exhibition is the culmination of the students’ education up to this point—even the design of the display is largely the work of an exhibition design class. Framed with blue tape to emphasize their ever-developing nature, the pieces that line the walls of the space are as diverse as their creators. Utilizing a range of different media, from painting to sculpture to film, the young artists offer glimpses into their varied sources of inspiration. [link]

Image courtesy of Yeshiva University Museum

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Chrisitians in Visual Arts Coming to NYC in October

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By Tahlib

NEW YORK---Christians in Visual Arts hosts "How Art Works Symposium" in NYC on October 11, 2014. This one-day CIVA symposium is an excellent opportunity to consider the deep issues facing artists and the church and learn from leaders in the field offering practical solutions for navigating the art world. The registration fee includes a free Friday evening opening reception and the complete 9 – 5 program on Saturday. Earlybird registration for the event is $45 for CIVA Members, $60 for non-members before October 1, with a $10 increase thereafter. Register Now Online.

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NYC Pledges $23 Million to Arts Education in 2015

HYPERALLERGIC
By Alix Taylor

NEW YORK---New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced on Tuesday their plan to put $23 million toward hiring 120 new arts teachers and boosting arts resources in public schools across the city. The plan uses additional money from this year’s budget to guarantee the growth of arts programs in 2015. The announcement at the Bronx Museum of the Arts came after City Comptroller Scott Stringer released a report finding that 28 percent of city schools fail to employ even one full-time arts teacher. Fariña, who’s long been an advocate for arts education, sees the plan to bolster the arts at under-served middle and high schools as important to academic development. “The arts in many, many ways, particularly in middle school, make kids come to school,” she told the assembled press on Tuesday. [link]

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Rituals: A Relationship Where Marriage is Freedom

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Michael M. Grynbaum

Randy Florke (left) and Sean Patrick Maloney were married
at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary-in-the-Highlands, in Cold Spring, N.Y.

Mr. Florke, 51, and Mr. Maloney, 47, who was elected in 2012 as New York’s first openly gay congressman, were married last month at a church near their home in Cold Spring, N.Y., as their three children looked on. After two decades together, marriage was not a priority. But last year, Mr. Florke traveled to Washington to hear the arguments before the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. He left profoundly shaken, hurt by the words of those who spoke against change; he thought of friends who died of AIDS and what they had missed. That summer, driving upstate, he heard on the radio that the court had struck down the Defense of Marriage Act — followed by the voice of Mr. Maloney, being interviewed about the decision. Mr. Florke felt something stir. “When something is not really accessible to you, part of your brain pretends like it doesn’t want it,” he said. [link]

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Museum of Biblical Art Commissions Six New Works for "Back to Eden"

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

"The Fruit Eaters" (2013) by Barnaby Furnas 

NEW YORK---"Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden" is now open at the Museum of Biblical Art. The MOBIA exhibition explores the direct and indirect influence of the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden on artists working today. For this exhibition, MoBIA commissioned six new works — the first commissions in the museum’s history — as well as 13 pieces created in the past 15 years. The new commissions are by Anonda Bell, Sean Capone, Mark Dion, Dana Sherwood, Mary Temple, and Marina Zurkow. Other artists included in the exhibition include Lynn Aldrich, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Mat Collishaw, Jim Dine, Barnaby Furnas, Adam Fuss, Rona Pondick, Naomi Reis, Lina Puerta, Pipilotti Rist, Alexis Rockman, and Fred Tomaselli. "Back to Eden" will be on view through September 28, 2014.

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‘Other Primary Structures’ at the Jewish Museum, Curated by Jens Hoffmann!

TABLET MAGAZINE
By Jeremy Sigler

Signnage for Jewish Museum Exhibition

NEW YORK---Let’s just say there are two kinds of curators. One is a caretaker for a public or private collection, entrusted to keep the art up on the walls, packed away safely, or shipped off on some boat somewhere. There is another kind of curator who dreams up exhibitions, gathers works from all over the place, and presents “meaning” by “combining”—usually in borrowed temporary quarters. This curator-type is not so much a care-taker, but more a care-maker, using art to illustrate a point, as would a sixth-grader using “visual aids” in an “oral report.” This kind of curator is not “dependent” but “independent.” There have been many independent curators over the years, but one of the most eager and active today in New York is Jens Hoffmann, who is using his high-profile ways to bring the Jewish Museum into a kind of big-budget renaissance. [link]

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