Arie A. Galles Zoom Presentation | "Drawing Out" Spinoza and Kohelet/Ecclesiastes 5:7" an exploration of the interaction of artist and painting
Arie A. Galles Zoom Presentation | "Drawing Out" Spinoza and Kohelet/Ecclesiastes 5:7" an exploration of the interaction of artist and painting
Mar 16, 2023
5:00 - 6:30pm
Add to Calendar03/16/2023 5:00 PM03/16/2023 6:30 PMAmerica/Los_AngelesArie A. Galles Zoom Presentation | "Drawing Out" Spinoza and Kohelet/Ecclesiastes 5:7" an exploration of the interaction of artist and painting
Arie A. Galles, Professor Emeritus of Painting & Drawing, Artist in Residence presents,
“DRAWING OUT”
“SPINOZA” and “KOHELET / ECCLESIASTES 5:7”
an exploration of the interaction of artist and drawing
Zoom Presentation with Q&A
Free and open to the public with registration by 3/14 at www.soka.edu…
About the presentation:
“SPINOZA” | My approach to this drawing raised conceptual struggles regarding the representation of a philosopher and a philosophical concept in visual terms. My knowledge of Spinoza and his philosophy was sketchy, mostly centered on what I considered his unconscionable excommunication by coreligionists in 17th century Holland. My mind’s eye saw an image of the “Double Shaddai,” made by the high priests of Israel. I chose to juxtapose the “Shaddai” with Spinoza’s signing his Latin signature. Thus began the journey to the drawing’s creation.
“KOHELET/ECCLESIASTES 5:7” | In the whole of the Tanakh I find the book of Ecclesiastes a profoundly empirical Jewish exegesis on the concept of justice. Quotes from that book are often repeated in literature and song. The phrase that intrigues me the most is Kohelet 5:7.
”If you see in a province oppression of the poor and suppression of righteousness and justice, don’t be shocked at the fact; for one high official is protected by a higher one, and both of them by still higher ones.”
Many hackneyed representations of a skewered scale of justice exist, presenting an unbalance tipped against justice, blind as it may be. As a Jewish artist, I envision the scale not merely unbalanced, but completely broken, floating, like the Flying Dutchman in the sky. Humans murder humans, turn cities into blood-soaked rubble. While their mouths speak of justice, their hands are busy killing.
Sponsored by Academic Affairs
Arie A. Galles, Professor Emeritus of Painting & Drawing, Artist in Residence presents,
“DRAWING OUT”
“SPINOZA” and “KOHELET / ECCLESIASTES 5:7”
an exploration of the interaction of artist and drawing
Zoom Presentation with Q&A
Free and open to the public with registration by 3/14 at www.soka.edu…
About the presentation:
“SPINOZA” | My approach to this drawing raised conceptual struggles regarding the representation of a philosopher and a philosophical concept in visual terms. My knowledge of Spinoza and his philosophy was sketchy, mostly centered on what I considered his unconscionable excommunication by coreligionists in 17th century Holland. My mind’s eye saw an image of the “Double Shaddai,” made by the high priests of Israel. I chose to juxtapose the “Shaddai” with Spinoza’s signing his Latin signature. Thus began the journey to the drawing’s creation.
“KOHELET/ECCLESIASTES 5:7” | In the whole of the Tanakh I find the book of Ecclesiastes a profoundly empirical Jewish exegesis on the concept of justice. Quotes from that book are often repeated in literature and song. The phrase that intrigues me the most is Kohelet 5:7.
”If you see in a province oppression of the poor and suppression of righteousness and justice, don’t be shocked at the fact; for one high official is protected by a higher one, and both of them by still higher ones.”
Many hackneyed representations of a skewered scale of justice exist, presenting an unbalance tipped against justice, blind as it may be. As a Jewish artist, I envision the scale not merely unbalanced, but completely broken, floating, like the Flying Dutchman in the sky. Humans murder humans, turn cities into blood-soaked rubble. While their mouths speak of justice, their hands are busy killing.
Sponsored by Academic Affairs