Indian Artist Neha Choksi, Explores Absence Through Presence

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Sei Chong

A still frame from Neha Choksi’s film "Iceboat," in which she rows a boat she crafted from ice, until it melts.

INDIA---For many artists, the creative process is about making something from nothing. But Neha Choksi seeks to do just the opposite: to make nothing out of something. “How do you form nothing? How do you perform absence?” Ms. Choksi, 39, said in an interview at her home in Mumbai. “These are all repeating questions.” To demonstrate absence in her art, Ms. Choksi remains very much present. In the name of her work, she has lost consciousness, fallen silent for 10 days and submerged herself in a lake. [link]

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‘The Odyssey and Art of John H. Less’ Exhibition Comes to Museum in Newark

THE RECORD | NEW JERSEY.COM

'Escape' by former township resident John H. Less will be shown in an exhibition at The Jewish Museum of New Jersey

NEW JERSEY---The Jewish Museum of New Jersey presents, "Berlin — Shanghai — Newark: The Odyssey and Art of John H. Less," an exhibition of paintings that primarily focuses on the artist's life as a German Holocaust refugee in Shanghai from 1940 to 1947. Less, who passed away in 2011, lived in Millburn for 50 years. In the exhibition, he portrays his uprooting from a culture in which he and his family believed themselves to be at home and secure to their abrupt transformation into complete outsiders. The exhibition begins with a reception on Sunday, Oct. 6, from 1 to 5 p.m., and will be open on Sundays through Sunday, Dec. 15. [link]

The Jewish Museum of New Jersey: "Berlin — Shanghai — Newark: The Odyssey and Art of John H. Less," (Oct. 5-Dec. 15); Congregation Ahavas Sholom, 145 Broadway, Newark, NJ;  (973) 698-8489; jewishmuseumnj.org. 

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Eleni Zatz Litt Repairs the World With Her Art

NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS

The Hebrew Letter Dalet, 9” x 12”, acrylic on canvas, 2011

NEW JERSEY--- The work of local artist Eleni Zatz Litt will be showcased at the Jewish Center of Princeton through late October. An opening reception with the artist will be held Sunday, Oct. 6, 2-4 p.m. Litt, who lives in Princeton Junction and is a Jewish Center member, also serves as assistant provost at the New School and is deeply involved in Jewish study and teaching. She issued the following statement about her work: "For me making art is simultaneously a form of prayer and a form of study. I engage with the texts of our tradition with the visual language of line, color, and form. Each piece is the product of an experience and a container of ideas and feelings." Just as the art is a meditation on text, this text is a meditation on the art in the context of the Jewish High Holy Days. [link]

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Born September 14, 1954: David Wojnarowicz, Artist & Activist

JESUS IN LOVE
By Rev. Kittredge Cherry

“Zayin” by Douglas Blanchard evokes the suffering of Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992.

NEW YORK---David Wojnarowicz is a gay artist, writer and activist whose use of Christian imagery still causes controversy more than two decades after his death. He died of AIDS at age 37 on July 22, 1992. Today interest in Wojnarowicz is surging among LGBTQ scholars and artists. Last year he was the subject of two papers at the American Academy of Religion, where he was called an “outsider theologian.” “By examining Wojnarowicz’s work through theological eyes, we can identify him as an overlooked source of theological reflection that is defiantly and proudly gay,” says the description for “David Wojnarowicz: Outsider Theologian,” a paper presented by Justin Tanis at the 2012 meeting of the American Academy of Religion. [link]

David Wojnarowicz was born in Redbank, NY and died in New York City (September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992)

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