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Photo courtesy of Celia Rabinowitz
The question of survival, and of what comes next, hangs heavy in the air these days, as the city marks the decade anniversary of September 11th.
For local artist Celia B. Rabinowitz, the issues, literally, surrounding life and death, and the purpose with which one lives and works are constant.
In her new solo exhibit, "Transcending Bourgeois: Mediocrity or Hope?”, is a collection of visual works in which she explores themes that have proven recurring in her own life: wholeness, redemption, suffering, and yes, survival. A cancer survivor who lost her own mother at an early age to breast cancer, Rabinowitz’s work is being shown at the Armin and Estelle Gold Gallery at the Hebrew Tabernacle.
Co-curator Regina Gradess explains that how she was particularly moved by Rabinowitz’s painting “Self Portrait – Survival.”
“The multihued face and staring eyes yanked me into the intricacies of living with and attending to cancer,” explains Gradess. “There was no doubt that Celia was an artist whose work should be shared with others in our congregation and neighborhood.”
And Rabinowitz too is looking forward to sharing her pieces with her neighbors.
“I am excited,” she shares with a laugh, just days away from the exhibit’s opening.
As the visual artist who once traveled so incessantly, she has called herself “the wandering Jew,” and who now seems to have found a home of sorts, explains in her artist statement: “It is my intention to instill hope into the world via my art. As Degas once said: "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
“Transcending” will have its opening reception at the Armin and Estelle Gold Gallery at the Hebrew Tabernacle on Friday evening, September 9, 2011, at 8:30 pm, following Shabbat services. The Gallery is located at 551 Ft. Washington Avenue at 185th Street. Visitors can call 212-568-8304 for gallery hours; the website is http://hebrewtabernacle.org.
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