Media Echoes
Our Abstract Expression Show
I am happy to see that the media is covering our
show in Vaughan.
First we had an article in The Liberal of Vaughan , last week and now the second article just
got published yesterday in Jewish Tribune.
We are going to be also featured in a short movie
on Rogers TV Cable Chanel 63, after filming on premises of City Hall of Vaughan,
on24 of August 2012.
Here is the second article by Suri Epstein.
JEWISH
TRIBUNE
Arts and Culture /Aug 14th 2012
By Suri
Epstein
VAUGHAN – The
Symbolic Language of Abstract Expressionism :Reflections on Jewish Heritage is quite a mouthful, but it
does a good job of featuring the work of three Toronto artists who explore
their relationships with Judaism in their paintings.
"Kaleidoscopic
Days” by Bianka Guna , Acrylic on Canvas , 40”x 60”
Bianka Guna’s paintings, bursting with primary
colours and bold forms, are the work of an artist who grew up behind the Iron
Curtain.
“I was raised in Communist Romania; the daughter of
a Holocaust-survivor mother,” she said. “We were not allowed to go to any
synagogue or be religious. For me, being a Jew is more about surviving and
telling the story of the past to the future.”
Guna spent many years in Israel after emigrating
from Romania and this is where she draws much of her artistic inspiration.
“All my art is related to my experiences in
Israel,” she said. The influences of Israeli music, culture and Mediterranean
all crystallize in her paintings.
“It’s really obvious that there are no rabbis
dancing in my paintings,” she said with a laugh. “I think we carry our traditions
and roots where we’re coming from.”
Guna painted the series in the show, Kaleidoscopic
Days, to the music of Israeli jazz singing sensation Noa. She describes this
series as “pieces of feelings about music, about the colours, about the forms
and the shape.”
Rachel Ovadia’s paintings, Creations I and II,
Blessings, and Meditation reflect a spiritual journey into the secrets of the
soul.
“My entire creativity is based on a principle of a
Kabalistic philosophy,” she said. “What I’m trying to achieve is a purity of
spirit, thought and desire.”
Meditation is a peaceful image done in a palette of
blues.
“It's about a moment of silence and one’s ability
to gather one’s purity of spirits,” she said.
Ovadia is particularly fascinated by Hebrew
letters. “My background is linguistic,” she said. “The Hebrew language is
utterly unique; each letter is not only linguistic but also has a numerical
message.”
Traces of those letters can be found on the cool
tones of Ovadia’s paintings.
“Those letters are very interesting in the sense
they provide us with not only a linguistic meaning, but deals with the
consciousness of the universe and its profundity of meaning.”
The paintings of artist Rina Gottesman are rich in
warm tones and include her writings that she weaves into the images on the
canvas.
“I make them ambiguous on purpose,” she said. “I
want to engage the viewer. Not giving it true form gives everyone the
opportunities to put their own feeling and experiences into it.”
Setting Sun and Desert Moon, as well as Did You Know
take their inspiration from the magnificence of Israel’s topography and the
vitality of Jerusalem – “even though you look at the picture and may not
recognize the Magen David,” Gottesman said. “It informs me and it’s my soul.”
The show continues until Sept. 7, 2012. For more
information, contact Sharon Gaum-Kuchar, Arts Coordinator,
Sharon.kuchar@vaughan.ca
